• 04Feb

  Silas: A Faithful And Fearless Man

  Profiles in Missions Comments Off on Silas: A Faithful And Fearless Man

  By Gordon Franz

  Introduction

  During the last week of the Lord Jesus’ earthly ministry, He spoke a parable on faithfulness while He and His disciples sat on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem (Matt. 24, 25). This parable is called the parable of the talents (25:14-30) and was given in the context of the Olivet Discourse.

  In this parable, Jesus describes a wealthy man who was leaving on a long trip. He gave each of his servants’ talents (money). “And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability” (25:15). Please notice the master gave each servant what he could handle and no more. The Lord Jesus is the same way with us. He knows what responsibilities we can handle and does not give us any more than we can bear.

  The first servant was a good businessman and turned his five talents into ten. The second took his two talents and turned them into four. Yet interestingly, the master gave both servants the same commendation. “Well done, good and faithful servant, you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord” (25:21, 23). The third servant took his one talent and buried it. When the master returned, the servant was thoroughly rebuked by his master (25:24-30).

  The implication of this parable is that a great preacher who is articulate and has a tremendous ability to communicate to a large audience and is mightily used of the Lord, may receive the same amount of rewards as an unknown faithful believer. For example, a Sunday School teacher (or AWANA leader) who may not be a public speaker, but who quietly, yet faithfully teaches his or her Sunday School class (or AWANA program). This individual does it week after week, year after year, praying for each student, visiting them in their homes and keeping in contact with them long after they have moved on to another grade, or even moved out of the area. The criteria for rewards seem to be faithfulness based on the God given ability of an individual.

  On the other hand, this parable also seems to teach, based on the actions of the third servant and the rebuke by the master, that believers who squander the opportunities that God has given to use their God-given abilities to serve Him, will be embarrassed at the return of Christ and will suffer the loss of rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 John 2:28; I Cor. 3:11-15). This includes the privilege of reigning with Him during the Millennium (2 Tim. 2:11-13). For a discussion of the parable and related topics, see Lang 1985: 283-291, 320, 321; McCoy 1988.

  This paper will examine the Apostle Silas who was characterized as a faithful and fearless believer who exercised his prophetic gift for the furtherance of the gospel and the edification of the Church.

  The life of Silas is a fascinating study. We will begin by giving a brief sketch of his life and then will ask two questions about Silas. First, why does Paul choose him as his partner on his second missionary journey (Acts 15:40)? And second, was Paul satisfied with his selection of Silas over the other possible co-workers?

  Most students of the Scripture know Silas as the Apostle Paul’s co-worker on his second missionary journey. Yet most people might not be aware that Silas (or Silvanus, as he is also known) co-authored or tri-authored three epistles found in the New Testament. Credit is usually given to the great apostles, Peter and Paul, for these epistles and not Silas.

  Silas, the Man

  His Name

  Silas had two names used in the Scripture, Silas and Silvanus. The name Silas is used 13 times in the New Testament, all in the book of Acts (15:22, 27, 32, 34, 40; 16:19, 25, 29; 17:4, 10, 14, 15; 18:5). His other name, Silvanus, is used only four times and only in the epistles (1 Pet. 5:12; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:19). Edmond Hiebert has noted: “Silas is apparently the Greek form of the Aramaic name for Saul, a Jewish name, while Silvanus was his Latin name. Silas may have chosen that Latin name because of its similarity in sound to his Jewish name” (1992: 79). Others have suggested: “The name Silvanus is a Roman cognomen, a Latinized form of Silas” (Gillman 1992: 6: 22). His Latin name indicated he had Roman citizenship. Note Paul’s words to the magistrates in Philippi: “They have beaten us [Paul and Silas] openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out” (Acts 16:37). Like Paul, Silas had Roman citizenship. How he got it, we are not told.

  Biographical Sketch of His Life

  Let’s start with a brief sketch of this apostle’s life. The early part of Silas’ life is a bit hazy. We have hints in the Bible as well as statements in the writings of the early church fathers as to what he did. According to church tradition, Silas was one of the seventy disciples sent out to Perea by the Lord Jesus around the time of Succoth in AD 29. Luke wrote of this event, but does not provide us with the names of these individuals: “After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them out two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go” (Luke 10:1). We have no way of confirming this tradition, but it is interesting to note, whenever Silas traveled on a missions trip, he always followed that “two by two” principle set forth by the Lord Jesus and had someone else with him, i.e. Silas and Peter, Silas and Judas, Silas and Paul, or Silas and Timothy (cf. Mark 6:7).

  We have a hint in Acts 15 of the role that Silas played in the formative years of the church in Jerusalem. Luke again writes, this time with regards to the decision by the church council in AD 49: “Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren” (15:22). Notice two things about Judas and Silas, they were chosen men from within the church in Jerusalem as well as leading men in the assembly. This indicates that Silas was actively involved in the work of the Lord in Jerusalem.

  We can also assume, because the make up of the early church in Jerusalem was Jewish, that Silas was Jewish as well.

  One of the early church fathers, named Eusebius Hieronymus, also known as Jerome (ca. 347-419/20), coauthored an interesting book called Lives of Illustrious Men. Jerome was the secretary to Pope Damascus I from AD 382-385 and apparently had access to some of the early Vatican records which would have helped him in the composition of this work, written in Bethlehem about AD 492. In Lives, Jerome and Gennadius give biographical sketches of 135 Christian authors from the time of Peter to the end of the 5^th century AD.

  In the biography of Peter, Jerome writes: “Simon Peter the son of John, from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, brother of Andrew the apostle, and himself chief of the apostles, after having been bishop of the church of Antioch and having preached to the Dispersion-the believers in circumcision, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia-pushed on to Rome in the second year of Claudius to overthrow Simon Magus” (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2^nd series, 3: 361). Emperor Claudius reigned from AD 41-54, so the second year was AD 42.

  If Jerome is correct in this chronological statement, it has a direct bearing on the chronology of the life of Silas and the date of the composition of I Peter. According to I Peter 5:12, Silas was either with Paul in Rome in AD 42 writing this epistle for him back to the believers that they had just evangelized in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia [hereafter these will be called the regions visited on Peter’s first missionary journey], and / or Silas was the letter carrier of this epistle back to the newly established churches in these regions. I suspect Silas both wrote the letter (I Peter) with Peter in Rome as well as carried it back to the churches in AD 42.

  Every commentary on I Peter and Acts, as well as every article I’ve read on Silas dates the writing of I Peter in the early 60’s. They also suggest Silas travels with Peter after Silas ministered in Corinth in the early 50’s. I do not share these views.

  The Apostle Peter zeroed in on one outstanding characteristic of Silas when he penned his first epistle. Silas was faithful to the Lord and to His work. “Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him” (5:12).

  After Silas delivered the epistle, we can assume he went back to Jerusalem in order to continue his ministry in that city. Seven years later, he is in the city for the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:22, 27, 32-34, 40-41).

  It was decided at the Jerusalem Council that a Gentile did not have to be circumcised in order to be saved. The apostles and elders of the Jerusalem assembly wrote a letter to the Gentile believers in Antioch (on the Orontes), Syria and Cilicia and sent it with Paul and Barnabas, but gave instructions for Judas and Silas to go with them and give a verbal confirmation of the content of the letter and clarify any questions people might have (Acts 15:22, 27).

  While in Antioch, Judas and Silas “exhorted and strengthened” the church in that city (Acts 15:32). After a time, they were sent back to Jerusalem, but Silas decided to stay on a little longer (15:33, 34).

  During his extended stay, Paul suggested to Barnabas that they return to the cities that they had planted churches during their first missionary journey and see how they were doing. Barnabas agreed and wanted to take John Mark with them. Paul said, “Nothing doing!” and they split over this issue. Barnabas and John Mark went to Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas to revisit the churches in Syria, Cilicia and Galatia (15:36-41).

  Silas was Paul’s co-worker from Antioch on the Orontes all the way to Corinth (Acts 15:41-18:17). Along the way, they picked up a young man named Timothy in order to disciple him (16:3; cf. 2 Tim. 2:2) and delivered to the churches in the cities they visited the decrees by the Jerusalem Council (16:4). During their stay in Corinth, Silas was engaged in evangelistic work (2 Cor. 1:19) as well as tri-authored two epistles to the church in Thessalonica, along with Paul and Timothy (1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1).

  Why Does Paul Choose Silas as His Co-worker for the Second Missionary Journey?

  Luke writes that: “Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God” (Acts 15:40). Hiebert points out that; “The verb implies that there were others whom Paul might have selected and who would have been willing to go with him” (1992: 82). It was Silas’ character and past experience that made him so desirable as a co-worker.

  There are at least six factors that influenced Paul’s decision to wisely choose Silas as his co-worker on his second missionary journey. In this selection, Silas was not the “junior missionary” and Paul the “senior missionary.” Paul was choosing a man to be on equal footing with him as they traveled, planting churches and making disciples of believers.

  Silas was a Faithful Brother

  The first reason Paul chose Silas was that he was a faithful brother (I Pet. 5:12). The statement that Silas is a brother indicates that he was born again into God’s family. The Apostle John wrote: “But as many as receive Him [the Lord Jesus], to them He gave the right [authority] to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12, 13).

  The Scripture is silent as to when and how Silas came to faith in the Lord Jesus as his Messiah and Savior. If the church tradition is correct that he was one of the seventy, then Silas might have heard the gospel from the lips of the Lord Jesus Himself and put his trust in Christ alone for his salvation during the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus. Jesus said on one occasion: “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last days. … Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:40, 47).

  The adjective used by Peter to describe Silas was “faithful” (I Peter 5:12). This was something that Lord Jesus prized in a believer (Matt. 25:14-30). Paul admonished the believers in Corinth to develop this characteristic in their own life (I Cor. 4:1, 2). At one point in his life, Paul wrote that he thanked the Lord Jesus for giving him the power to live the Christian life. As a result of this, Jesus counted Paul faithful and put him in the ministry (1 Tim. 1:12).

  This faithfulness was in sharp contrast to John Mark who “bagged” Barnabas and Paul on their first missionary journey (Acts 15: 38; cf. Acts 13:13). There is a bit of irony in Paul choosing Silas for the second missionary journey after Paul’s contention with Barnabas over John Mark. Both Silas and John Mark had been with Peter on his first missionary journey eight years prior. A few years later, John Mark left Paul and Barnabas at Perge when he found out they were going back to Galatia again. Scripture does not say why John Mark left, but we can surmise that something happened in Galatia during their missionary journey with Peter that caused John Mark to baulk at returning to the area. Silas had been through the same thing, whatever it was, that John Mark had been through in Galatia. Yet Silas was faithful and fearless, everything John Mark was not. Perhaps Paul used this selection of Silas as a subtle way to prod John Mark to faithfulness.

  Silas was a Fearless Person

  The second reason Paul chose Silas was that he was a fearless person. In the letter from the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, Judas and Silas are described as “men who have risked their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 15:26). Unfortunately we are not told how and when they risked their lives for the sake of Christ. There are several instances of persecution of believers in Jerusalem recorded in the book of Acts (Acts 8:1; 11:19; Acts 12:1, 2). This raises an interesting possibility. Did Rabbi Saul, the Pharisee, throw Judas and Silas into prison? Now Silas would be working with a man who at one time persecuted him! That would be a powerful testimony to the forgiveness Silas had for someone who had done him wrong.

  Perhaps Silas was fearless when something happened with Peter on his first missionary trip. It is interesting that when Peter addresses the believers in these areas in his first epistle, he writes about persecution. Silas would have known about this first hand.

  Silas Was Familiar With the Churches Where They Were Planning to Visit

  The third reason Paul chose Silas was that he was with Peter on his first missionary journey, so he knew the churches of the circumcision in those locations, and especially Galatia. More importantly, the churches knew Silas.

  Silas was Exercising His Spiritual Gift

  The fourth reason Paul chose Silas was that Silas was exercising his spiritual gift (Acts 15:30-35). Silas was a prophet with the gift of prophecy (15:32; Eph. 4:11; 1 Cor. 12:10, 28). This spiritual gift was the communication of God’s Word to His people. The prophet was to interpret and apply God’s Word to the life of the church. In the practical outworking of this in Antioch, Judas and Silas “exhorted and strengthen” the believers in that church.

  One of the foundational gifts to the Church is that of prophet (Eph. 4:11). Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “[After the ascension] And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-13).

  The church at Antioch sent Judas and Silas back to Jerusalem, but Silas decided to remain in Antioch and exercised his spiritual gift (Acts 15:34, 35). While he was there, Paul got a good look at him in action and must have liked what he saw.

  One of the things that Paul considered was a team that was balance with spiritual gifts. Paul had the gift of teaching and of an apostle. Silas had the gift of prophecy and was a prophet and apostle. I Thess. 2:6 said that Silas was an apostle. In Lystra, they invited Timothy to join them and he had the gift of evangelist (cf. 2 Tim. 4:5). You will notice from the list in Ephesians 4, all the bases were covered: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor / teacher. There was a balanced team.

  Silas had the Authoritative Backing of the Jerusalem Church

  The fifth reason Paul chose Silas was that he had the authoritative backing of the Jerusalem church. As has been mentioned before, Silas was a leading man in Jerusalem (Acts 15:22), possibly one of the “seventy” (Luke 10:1), and an “apostle” (1 Thess. 2:6). On this second missionary journey, Silas would report and confirm the letter from the Jerusalem Council. In essence, he would be the personal representative of the Jerusalem church and apostles and represented their authority when he delivered the “decrees” (Acts 15:25-27; 16:4).

  Silas had Roman Citizenship

  The final reason Paul chose Silas was that he had Roman citizenship (Acts 16:37). Paul and Silas could plead their Roman citizenship if they were confronted by the “perils of the Gentiles” (2 Cor. 11:26). On at least one occasion, at Philippi, they had to do this (Acts 16:37). Where Timothy was at this point, we are not told. I suspect there was a wave of anti-Semitism caused by the decree of Claudius when he expelled the Jews from Rome. Paul and Silas were hauled before the magistrate by the owners of the slave girl with the accusation that “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe” (Acts 16:20, 21). It would also give them access to the aristocracy in Roman colonies, i.e. the “up and outers.” If they could reach the wealthy people in the community, then perhaps they might open their homes (villas) for the church to meet in. For example, Priscilla and Aquila opened their home in Rome (Rom. 16:3-5), and likewise Gaius in Corinth (Rom. 16:23). These were people that Silas had an influence in their lives.

  Was Paul Satisfied with His Selection of Silas? Absolutely!

  Silas at Lystra

  Paul was satisfied with his selection of Silas on the second missionary journey because Silas used his prophetic gift for the furtherance of the ministry in Galatia. He apparently was the one God used to prophesy about Timothy in Lystra. 1 Tim. 1:18, 19a says: “The charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience.”

  More than likely it was Silas the Holy Spirit used to redirect the route of the missionary journey. In Acts 16:6, 7 we read: “Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia. After they came to Mysia, they tried to go through Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.” Paul did not have the gift of prophecy but Silas did, so he would have used his prophetic gift to determine the mind of God on the direction to travel. It is interesting to notice, however, when they got to Alexandria Troas, it was Paul who had the vision of a man from Macedonia who said “Come over and help us” (Acts 16:9).

  Silas at Philippi

  Paul was satisfied with his selection of Silas because Silas was fearless in the face of danger. A good example of this was when Paul and Silas were on the Philippi jail. Here Silas was fearless. He was not moping and groaning about the prison conditions, nor was he trying to call his lawyer to get them sprung from jail. No, they were having a prayer and praise service, in spite of their adverse circumstances.

  When they wrote to the Thessalonians, they reminded them of the difficult situation in Philippi. They wrote: “But you yourselves know, brethren that our coming to you was not in vain. But even after we suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict” (1 Thess. 2:1, 2).

  Meanwhile, back at the jail, at midnight an earthquake hit. The Philippian jailer tried to commit suicide, but Paul stopped him before he could harm himself. When the jailer realized they were still inside the prison and had not escaped, he came into the chamber and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Please notice that the jailer is asking both of them the question. Luke writes that “They (plural) answered him …” Their response in unison indicated that they were on the same page theological and had the gospel presentation down pat.

  What did they say? Was it, “Have you ever heard of the four spiritual laws?” Nope, they did not say that. Did they say, “Repent, confess your sins, and commit your life to Christ?” No, they did not say that either. Did they say, “Believe and be baptized?” No, that was not the condition for salvation either. Did they say, “Let Jesus into your heart and life?” No. They said in unison, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31).

  One can not present the gospel any plainer or clearer than what Paul and Silas did in Philippi. Some today would falsely accuse them of “easy believe-ism”, but in fact, it should be called “only believe-ism” because that is the only thing a person has to do, in fact, the only thing a person can do, in order to get saved. “Believe”, put their trust in, rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on Calvary’s cross where the complete payment for sins were made.

  Silas at Thessalonica

  Paul was satisfied with his selection of Silas when they were ministering in Thessalonica because Silas was not a financial burden on the church in that city. When they wrote back to the church at Thessalonica, they reminded them: “For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe” (1 Thess. 2:9, 10). We know that Paul’s “secular” occupation was that of a tentmaker (Acts 18:3), but what Silas did, we are not told. Yet he engaged in “secular” employment in Thessalonica so as not to be a financial burden on the church. This strategy apparently paid off with much spiritual success in the city (Acts 17:4).

  Silas at Berea, Athens and Thessalonica

  Paul was satisfied with his selection of Silas when they were ministering in Berea because he could be trusted to stabilize the new church as well as carry a financial gift to Paul.

  Paul, Silas and Timothy found a very receptive audience in the synagogue at Berea. These Jews “searched the Scriptures daily” to see whether the Scriptures said what Paul said it said about the Lord Jesus. Unfortunately some agitators from Thessalonica came and stirred up the people of Berea. Paul was forced to leave, and departed for Athens. Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea to stabilize the new church and helped to build it up (Acts 17:10-14).

  When Paul got to Athens, he sent for Silas and Timothy (Acts 17:15). When Paul, Silas and Timothy wrote the Thessalonian believers from Corinth they said: “Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith” (1 Thess. 3:1, 2). Timothy, and apparently Silas, left Athens and returned to Thessalonica to encourage the believers there. Some have suggested Silas went on to Philippi to encourage those believers as well and bring back a financial gift (Hiebert 1992: 85), but the Scripture is silent on this possible visit to Philippi. We do know that Silas and Timothy journeyed together from Macedonia to meet Paul in Corinth. Nor are we told which church or churches in Macedonia sent the gift back to Paul (Phil. 4:15, 16; 2 Cor. 11:9).

  Silas at Corinth

  Paul was satisfied with his decision to invite Silas with him because in Corinth he was actively involved in their evangelistic outreach. They ministered in the city from AD 50 – 52 (Acts 18:1-18). When Paul wrote back to the church at Corinth he reminds them that “the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us – by me, Silvanus, and Timothy” (2 Cor. 1:19).

  The three not only did evangelistic work in Corinth, they also tri-authored two epistles to the church in Thessalonica (1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1). In these two epistles they try to correct some doctrinal errors that had crept into the church concerning the return of Christ.

  It is interesting to speculate if Silas might have known Aquila from his visit to Pontus during Peter’s first missionary journey, or when he visited the province on his return trip with the letter. Aquila was originally from Pontus, up near the Black Sea, but later moved to Rome until he and his wife Priscilla were expelled by Claudius in AD 49 (Acts 18:2). Meeting him in Corinth would have been a pleasant surprise and there would have been a cheerful reunion. Perhaps Silas was the one who introduced the couple to Paul.

  Perhaps it was Silas, who had been to Rome with Peter, who put the seed of desire in Paul’s mind to go to Rome. When he met Aquila and Priscilla, who had lived in Rome, this reinforced Paul’s desire to go to the Eternal City (Rom. 1:7-13; 15:24; Acts 19:21; 23:11)

  After Paul left Corinth, we do not know what happened to Silas. Luke does not indicate that he continued with Paul, Aquila and Priscilla to Ephesus (Acts 18:18). On the other hand, he apparently does not stay in Corinth for long either because when Paul wrote back to the church, he sent no greetings to him in any of the epistles (1 Cor. 1:12). We can only guess what happened to Silas. He either died, or he went back to Jerusalem, or went somewhere else that is unrecorded in the Scriptures. Silas goes quietly off the scene of Biblical history, yet there is much we can learn from his life.

  Applications

  Faithfulness

  Silas’ faithfulness stands in stark contrast with the lack of faithfulness by John Mark. The apostle Paul thought faithfulness was very important for believers. He wrote: “Let a man so consider us [Paul, Timothy, and Silas], as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful” (I Cor. 4:1, 2). Believers need to work on this area constantly. We should set aside time for our daily reading of the Scriptures and prayer. We should make it a priority to be at the meetings of the assembly: the Lord’s Supper, the Bible hour and prayer meeting.

  Fearlessness

  Silas and Judas risked their lives for the sake of Christ. What they did we are not told, but they were bold in their witness for Him and fearless. We should take a stand for Christ at home, at work, at school, in the market place. Opposition will come and persecution for those who live godly in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:12), but like Silas, we should be fearless.

  Exercising Spiritual Gifts

  Silas was exercising his spiritual gift of prophecy and that of a prophet, that God in His sovereignty, had given him (1 Cor. 12: 11), for the edification, or building up, of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12, 13). Today, believers should know what their spiritual gift is, and exercise it, so the Body of Christ is built up.

  Clarity of the Gospel

  Silas clearly understood and boldly proclaimed the simplicity of the gospel message. He did not muddy up the gospel with unclear phrases and unbiblical terminology. Paul and Silas were on same page as Jesus, with regards to this issue. The gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for our sins. Any and all who “believe” (put’s their trust in, relies upon) the Lord Jesus will be given a home in Heaven, the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness of God. We as believers in the Lord Jesus need to make that message crystal clear so people can understand the message and trust the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.

  The Work of Evangelism and Discipleship

  Silas was a prophet and had the gift of prophecy, yet he was actively involved in evangelism and making disciples. He exercised his gift of prophecy to build up the Body of Christ, but he shared the gospel and made disciples because it was a command from the Lord Jesus. Silas went on the mission trip with Paul, following the “two-by-two” pattern set forth by the Lord Jesus. Along the way, they gathered disciples in order to train them, Timothy being an example (2 Tim. 2:2). Yet they engaged in evangelistic work wherever they went.

  Bibliography

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

  ______1995 Paul. Apostle of the Heart Set Free. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

  Elliot, John H.
  1980 Peter, Silvanus and Mark in I Peter and Acts. Pp. 250-267 in Wort in Der Zeit. Edited by W. Haubeck and M. Bachmann. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

  Finegan, Jack
  1998 Handbook of Biblical Chronology. Revised Edition. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

  Frew, D.
  1918 Silas or Silvanus. Pp. 492, 493 in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church. Vol. 2. Edited by J. Hasting. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

  Gillman, John

  1992 Silas. Pp. 22, 23 in Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 6. Edited by D. Freedman. New York: Doubleday.

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

  Jerome
  1994Lives of Illustrious Men. Pp. 353-402 in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Second series. Vol. 3. Edited by P. Schaff and H. Wace. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

  Kaye, B. N.
  1979 Acts’ Portrait of Silas. Novum Testamentum 31/1: 13-26.

  Lang, G. H.
  1985 Pictures and Parables. Studies in the Parabolic Teaching of Holy Scripture. Miami Springs, FL: Conley and Schoetle.

  McCoy
  1988 Secure Yet Scrutinized. 2 Timothy 2:11-13. Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society 1/1. http://www.faithalone.org/journal/1988ii/McCoy.html

  Redlich, E. Basil
  1913 S. Paul and His Companions. London: Macmillan.

  Wainwright, Allan
  1979 Where Did Silas Go? (And What Was His Connection With Galatians?). Journal for the Study of the New Testament 8: 66-70.
• 04Feb

  Epaphras: A Man of Fervent Prayer

  Profiles in Missions Comments Off on Epaphras: A Man of Fervent Prayer

  By Gordon Franz

  Introduction

  What kind of reputation does each of us have in our local church? Are we known as a person who knows the Word of God and can teach it? Or, are we known as a person of prayer? Or, are we known as a person who helps others in times of need and can counsel those who have problems and comfort the broken hearted? What is our reputation?

  There was an elderly gentleman, who has since gone to be with the Lord, in the church that I fellowship with, named Ted Bolkema. He had a solid reputation of being a man of prayer, and could he ever pray! It was always interesting to hear him pray at the Thursday night prayer meeting. He would pray geographically. He would start by praying for the needs of the assembly at Valley Bible Chapel in Washington Township, NJ. Then he would pray for the outreach into the surrounding communities in Bergen County. He would then turn his attention to missionaries. Starting in Mexico, he would pray down Central America to South America, praying for missionaries by name and the specific needs that they had. These needs were gleaned from the prayer letters read earlier in the prayer meeting, or from “Missions” magazine or his own personal knowledge of the missionaries. He would then hop over to South Africa and pray up to the Mediterranean coast interceding for missionaries and the work in Africa. Then he would then go to Europe, praying for that spiritually Dark Continent. His attention would turn east and he would pray for those behind the Iron Curtin (this was before the fall of the Soviet Union) and further east to Asia as well as the Subcontinent, India and Southeast Asia. He would either cross the Bering Strait in Alaska or hop to Hawaii on his way to the mainland in order to pray for the home workers in the United States. All this in ten to fifteen minutes! He had a well earned reputation as a man of prayer.

  The Apostle Paul wrote to the saints in the Lycus Valley commending one of their own, Epaphras of Colossae, as “always laboring fervently for you in prayers” (Col. 4:12). What brought Epaphras to the point of being such a devout man of prayer, earnestly praying for the people in the Lycus Valley?

  The Bible gives few biographical clues to this fascinating individual. Epaphras’ name is mentioned only three times in the Bible (Col. 1:7; 4:12; Philemon 23). There are six verses that actually make reference to him (Col. 1:7, 8; 4:12-14 and Philemon 23). From these verses and the historical-geography of the Lycus Valley, we can glean hints about this man with a reputation for praying for specific needs in the churches where he ministered (Morgan-Gillman 1992: 2: 533).

  Colossae was located in the Lycus Valley. This valley was situated on a very strategic road that went from Ephesus on the Aegean Sea eastward to Syria. It is located at the eastern end of the Meander River. Within this valley there are two other major cities, Laodicea and Hierapolis, within the region of Phrygia.

  Epaphras’ Ethnicity and Hometown

  The name Epaphras is a shortened form of the name Epaphroditus, the meaning of which is “handsome” or “charming.” The Epaphras mentioned in Colossians and Philemon should not be associated with, or confused with the Epaphroditus mentioned in Philippians 4:18.

  The Apostle Paul hints at the fact that Epaphras was a Gentile in Colossians 4. In the verses preceding the mention of Epaphras, Paul lists three individuals: Aristarchus, John Mark, and Yeshus called Justus, and identifies them as “my only fellow workers for the Kingdom of God who are of the circumcision” (4:10, 11). Those of the circumcision are Jewish individuals. The three that are mentioned next: Epaphras, Dr. Luke and Demas, would not be included in the “only” of the “circumcision”, thus they were Gentiles.

  Paul also points out that Epaphras is “one of you” in the epistle written to the Church at Colossae (4:12), indicating that Colossae was his home town and that he was in fellowship in the assembly in that city.

  Epaphras’ Relationship to Christ

  When Paul and Timothy penned the epistle to the Colossians about AD 62 they gave four descriptions of Epaphras. He is first called “our dear fellow servant [sundoulos]” (1:7a). Then he is called “a faithful minister [diakonos] of Christ” (1:7b). The third designation is “a bondservant [doulos] of Christ” (4:12a). And finally “my [Paul’s] fellow prisoner [sunaixmalotos] in Christ Jesus” (Philemon 23). Twice Epaphras is described as a servant, or slave [doulos]. The emphasis of this word seems to be on the relationship between the slave and his master.

  William Hendriksen eloquently describes this relationship: “A servant of Jesus Christ is one who has been bought with a price and is therefore owned by his Master, on whom he is completely dependent, to whom he owes undivided allegiance and to whom he ministers with gladness of heart, in newness of spirit, and in the enjoyment of perfect freedom, receiving from him a glorious reward” (1964: 191).

  Epaphras is also called a “faithful minister.” The word minister is the Greek word for deacon. Perhaps Epaphras served in this office as one of deacon in the church at Colossae (cf. I Tim. 3:8-13). If that is the case, and Epaphras met the qualifications of this office, we can surmise that he was a family man with a wife and children. The fact that he held the office of deacon in the church at Colossae should not be confused with his exercising his spiritual gift of that of an evangelist in the Lycus Valley (cf. Eph. 4:11). Paul noted that he was faithful in carrying out his responsibilities as a deacon.

  Paul also points out in his letter to Philemon that Epaphras is a “fellow prisoner.” Apparently Epaphras was put in prison along with the Apostle Paul for one reason or another and was incarcerated when Paul sent the letters to the churches at Laodicea and Colossae, as well as the epistle to Philemon, back to the Lycus Valley with Tychicus and Onesinus (Col. 4:7-9, 16).

  Epaphrus’ Salvation

  The Bible does not state when Epaphras trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior, or who shared the good news of the gospel with him. One can only speculate on the answer to these questions. Most likely we can say that the Apostle Paul did not lead him to Christ. Otherwise, he would have called Epaphras his son in the faith, like he did Titus (Tit. 1:4) and Timothy (I Tim. 1:2; II Tim. 1:2; 2:2). More than likely someone else shared the greatest news Epaphras had ever heard. This individual pointed out to Epaphras that he was a sinner and had come short of God’s mark of perfection (Rom. 3:23), and the wages of sin was death, or separation from God for all eternity in Hell (Rom. 6:23). Yet the good news is that the Lord Jesus died on Calvary’s cross to pay for his sins and rose again from the dead three days later. All Epaphras had to do, in fact, all he could do, was to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior; and not his works, good deeds, or any merit of his own (Eph. 2:8, 9; Tit. 3:5). When he trusted Christ alone, he was given the righteousness of God, the forgiveness of all his sins, a home in heaven, and the free gift of eternal life (Phil. 3:9).

  There are two possibilities as to who brought the gospel to the Lycus Valley. The first would be some Jewish pilgrims from the Lycus Valley (Phrygia, cf. Acts 2:10) who went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) in AD 30 and heard Peter’s sermon that is recorded in Acts 2:14-41. They could have returned with the gospel message. The second possibility could be Peter or Silas (also known as Silvanus) if they came through the Lycus Valley on their way to Asia during their missionary journey to Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia (I Pet. 1:1; 5:12). One of the early church fathers, Jerome, dates this journey to the second year of Emperor Claudius which would be the year AD 42 (1994: 3: 361). Peter was an apostle to the circumcision (Gal. 2:7-9) and there were Jewish communities in the Lycus Valley that he and his team would want to evangelize (Bruce 1984a).

  Paul hints at others bringing the gospel to the Lycus Valley before Epaphras began his ministry there in the mid-50’s of the First Century AD. Paul reminds them of the grace of God and says: “as you also learned from Epaphras” (Col. 1:7 NKJV). The word “also” indicates that others, most likely Peter, Silas and John Mark, brought the gospel to the Lycus Valley first. At the end of the epistle to the Colossians, as well as Philemon, Paul gives them greetings from John Mark and tells them to prepare for his possible visit (4:10; Philemon 24), suggesting that they already knew him from a previous visit.

  There is, however, a textual problem that would effects the interpretation of this passage. The text underlying the RSV, NRSV, NASB and the NIV all omit the word “also.” If that is the case, then Epaphras was the first one who brought the gospel to the Lycus Valley (Hiebert 1979:55; 1992:139). I believe that the word “also” has stronger textual support and belongs in the text, and that Peter and company were the first to bring the gospel to the Valley.

  Epaphras’ Training

  Ephesus was a thriving metropolis in the mid-1^st century AD. People flocked to the city for business (trade and commerce), pleasure (the brothels) or pilgrimage and sightseeing. The Temple of Artemis / Diana was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and would have been the main attraction. Paul went there because it was a very strategic city for the furtherance of the Gospel. More than likely, Epaphras met the Apostle Paul while visiting Ephesus when Paul was there on his third missionary journey, sometime between AD 52 and 55 (Acts 19).

  Paul and Timothy had set up a daily “discipleship training program” at the School of Tyrannus, next to the synagogue of Ephesus (Acts 19:9). As a result of this daily teaching program, Dr. Luke records: “And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:10).

  Paul and Timothy modeled an effective tool to reach a large area with the gospel. As Paul reminded Timothy, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (II Tim. 2:2). They committed the Word of God to faithful men who returned to their own communities, or went out to other areas with the gospel in order to plant churches and establish a Christian witness, and these men were able to teach others also.

  Paul states that he had not been to the Lycus Valley (Col. 2:1). Most likely Epaphras met Paul in Ephesus when Paul was ministering in the School of Tyrannus. Perhaps Epaphras was visiting Ephesus on business and met Paul, or he heard of the school via travelers through the Lycus Valley and sought out the apostle so he could learn more of the Word of God. More than likely, Epaphras was trained by Paul and Timothy in Ephesus before he returned home with a new zeal, and better knowledge, for sharing the gospel.

  Epaphras Exercised His Spiritual Gift as an Evangelist in Planting Churches in the Lycus Valley

  Jesus, when He sent out His disciples, sent them out two-by-two. Peter and Paul followed that example as well when they went on their missionary journeys. In the New Testament, there are no “Lone Ranger Missionaries” (even the Lone Ranger had his side-kick Tonto!).

  I am sure that Epaphras followed this pattern as well. More than likely he returned to the Lycus Valley with, a fellow Colossian, named Philemon. Paul knew Philemon well. In fact, Paul rescued him from physical harm at one point in his life (Philemon 19). Where and when this event took place, and the nature of the harm, we are not told, but more than likely it occurred in Ephesus. Perhaps Philemon was studying in the School of Tyrannus as well.

  Paul reminded the saints in the Valley that the truth of the gospel came to them “as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf” (Col. 1:5b-7).

  There is another textual problem in verse 7. The text underlying the KJV and the NKJV identify Epaphras as a “faithful minister of Christ on your behalf.” If this is correct, perhaps the churches in the Lycus Valley sent him and Philemon to the School of Tyrannus to get further education from Paul and Timothy so they could be more effective in their outreach in the Valley. On the other hand, the text underlying the NIV, RSV, NASB have the word “on our behalf.” This would seem to indicate that Paul sent Epaphras (and Philemon) back home as his personal representative because he was heavily engaged in the work at Ephesus (Hiebert 1979:56; 1992:140, 141). I think the former usage, “on your behalf” is correct, and Epaphras went to Ephesus to sharpen his knowledge in the Word of God from Paul, and his skills in evangelism from Timothy (cf. II Tim. 4:5).

  When Paul wrote his epistle to the church at Ephesus, he developed his thoughts on spiritual gifts (4:7-16). He has already written about spiritual gifts elsewhere (Rom. 12:6-8; I Cor. 12:6-10, 28-30), and so had Peter (I Pet. 4:11). He states that the Ascended Lord Jesus “gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelist, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (4:11, 12). These gifted individuals to the Body of Christ were given so that the individuals in the local church could be taught to carry on the ministry in the local church and that the church would be built up numerically as well as spiritually.

  The local church has only two offices (Phil 1:1): elders (I Tim. 3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-11) and deacons (I Tim. 3: 8-13). These are not to be confused with spiritual gifts that God, in His sovereignty, has given to individuals in the church. Apostle, prophets, evangelists and pastor / teachers are gifted individuals that God has given to His Church, not offices in the local church.

  One must also distinguish between the gift of evangelist which some believers may have (Eph. 4:11), and the command to evangelize which was given by the Lord Jesus to all believers in Him (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15, 16).

  Eusebius (ca. AD 260-340), described the evangelist in his Ecclesiastical History this way: “[They] took up the work of evangelists and were zealous to preach to all who had not yet heard the word of faith, and to transmit the writing of the divine Gospels. As soon as they had no more than laid the foundations of the faith in some strange place, they appointed others as shepherds [poimevas] and committed to them the task of tending those who had been just brought in, but they themselves passed on again to other lands and peoples, helped by the grace and co-operation of God” (3: 37; LCL 1:287).

  One scholar suggests that “the role of evangelist included the preservation of true foundational doctrine. This could be the reason that ‘evangelists’ are found among the ‘equippers’ of Ephesians 4:11 just before Paul warns them not to be deceived by false doctrine (4:14) and is listed in 2 Timothy 4 just after Paul emphasizes the preservation of doctrine (vv. 3-4)” (Berding 2006: 327, footnote 9).

  Epaphras ministered with Philemon in Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis (Col. 4:12, 13). They used Colossae as their home base and traveled to the other two cities conducting evangelistic campaigns. Their walk from Colossae to Laodicea was about ten miles. From Laodicea to Hierapolis was about six miles. “The three cities lie so near to each other, that it would be quite possible to visit them all in the course of a single day” (Lightfoot 1892: 2).

  Epaphras Confers with the Apostle Paul in Rome about the Theological Problems in the Lycus Valley

  About five years after Epaphras and Philemon started their evangelistic work, planting churches in the Lycus Valley, some theological problems arose. Epaphras had a good handle on the Word of God, but there were some issues he could not deal with. He sought out his mentor, the Apostle Paul, who was older, wiser and more knowledgeable then himself in the Scriptures. After making some inquiries, he found out Paul was in prison in Rome (Philemon 1, 9, 10, 13). Epaphras took the long journey to the Eternal City in order to consult with Paul about the “Colossian Heresy” because he was concerned for the spiritual well-being of the churches in the Valley.

  Scholars have debated the nature of the Colossian Heresy (DeMaris 1994; Bruce 1984b). An important study was done by Dr. Clinton Arnold of Talbot School of Theology, entitled The Colossian Syncretism. The Interface Between Christianity and Folk Belief at Colossae (1996). He points out that the people of Colossae “lived in an environment of religious pluralism. They coexisted with people who worshiped Anatolian, Persian, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian deities and with Jews who were devoted to the worship of one god and the observance of Torah. The manner of devotion and religious expression were quite varied among the different groups” (1996: 310).

  Rather than use the word “heresy” to describe the “philosophy” (Col. 2:8) that was permeating the churches in the Lycus Valley, Arnold prefers the word “syncretism.” This is the blending of the different thoughts and practices of the various religious beliefs in the area to make a comprehensive belief system, sort of like a theological hobo stew. Each group brings a little of this and a little of that from their religious beliefs and drops them into the kettle, stirs, and hopes that they all blend well and that the stew is tasty to the eater.

  Arnold describes the syncretism this way: “Some of the beliefs and practices held in common can be attributed to the strength of the local Phrygian religious traditions. What many scholars have called the ‘Lydian-Phrygian spirit’ permeated many of the cults, and to some degree, even Judaism. This local tradition included a tendency toward the worship of one high god served by many intermediary beings, ecstatic forms of worship that sometimes led to the abuse of the body, a strong belief in dangerous spirits and powers, and the practice of invoking divine intermediaries for deliverance, protection and assistance” (1996: 310).

  Arnold goes on to say that this “new teaching emerged within the Christian community at Colossae. Referring to itself as ‘the philosophy,’ the leaders of this faction had adapted the Pauline gospel to aspects of Phrygian-Lydian beliefs and practices as well as to the local Judaism. The advocated the invocation of angels for protection from hostile powers. They appear to have overemphasized the transcendence of God and under emphasized the exalted position of Christ, functionally viewing him as a mediator, perhaps on the same level as the angels” (1996: 311).

  The solution to this syncretism, according to Arnold, is a “cosmic Christology” by the Apostle Paul. In this theology, “Jesus existed before the powers, he in fact created them, he defeated the hostile powers on the cross, and he will intervene in the future and bring about a universal peace in heaven as well as on earth” (1996: 311).

  Scholars have debated the origin of the “Colossian Heresy”: What was its real cause? One summer I was visiting Turkey with some friends. As we approached Colossae I could see from a distance a thin line of purple covering the top of the acropolis of the city. I thought that strange and wondered what kind of flower could produce such a beautiful color. On my previous visit, the acropolis was covered with wheat. Once we got to the top of the site, I could see it was a field of opium with the purple flowers in full bloom. The neighbors did not seem too pleased with our visit, so we took our pictures and left. When I got home, I sent Clint Arnold a photograph of the opium plants with a note, “Here is the real cause of the Colossian Heresy!” J

  Paul realized that the Colossian syncretism was more than Epaphras could handle on his own. So he wrote several letters back to the Lycus Valley attempting to straighten out the problem and ground the believers in sound doctrine. His desire was “that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:2, 3).

  Tychicus and Onesimus took the three letters back to the Valley. One letter, which no longer exists, was dropped off at Laodicea (Col. 4:16), and the other two were read in the church that was meeting in the house of Philemon at Colossae (Col. 1:2; Philemon 2).

  Epaphras Prayed Fervently for the Lord to Intervene Concerning the Problems in the Churches in the Lycus Valley

  While Epaphras was in Rome, he spent many hours with the Apostle Paul as well as Dr. Luke. Something he learned about the Lord Jesus from Dr. Luke was a statement that Jesus made, “Men ought always to pray and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Epaphras took this to heart because when Paul wrote back to the church at Colossae and said: “Epaphras … [was] always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Col. 4:12).

  There are three things to notice about Epaphras’ prayer life and prayers. First, it was constant. He was always praying. Does this mean he was shut in his prayer closet, down on bended knees, praying 24 hours a day for seven days a week? Probably not. But I am sure that Epaphras, Paul and the other believers that were with him in Rome had long prayer session where they prayed for specific needs of individuals and churches. But, his heart was always in the attitude of prayer and when the Lord prompted him with individuals or situations, he prayed for them. On the other hand, when Paul wrote to Philemon, he identified Epaphras as his “fellow-prisoner.” If they were confined to chains, they did not have too many places to go, or much else to do! But they could go boldly to the Throne of Grace and pray for the needs of the churches in the Lycus Valley (Heb. 4:16).

  The second thing to notice about his prayers is that they were intense. He was “laboring fervently” in prayer. The Greek word “laboring fervently” is an athletic term for an athlete competing in some event and striving to win the prize. In Greek athletic competition an athlete either won or lost a competition, there was no second or third place. As Vince Lombardi, legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers used to say: “Winning isn’t everything, it is the only thing.” The only ways to win an event was to labor, or strive fervently. Epaphras made it to the Bema Seat (rewarding stand) when Paul reminded the people in the Lycus Valley that Epaphras was laboring fervently for them in prayer.

  The third thing that should be noticed about Epaphras’ prayers is that they were specific; they were “for you.” I am sure they were not the sort: “God bless the people in the churches in the Lycus Valley.” No, they were specific, for individuals and the situations they found themselves in. He would pray specifically for Brother so and so who was dabbling in the Colossian syncretism and Epaphras interceded on his behalf that the Lord would ground this brother in the Word of God and he would see the errors of the syncretism. Or he would pray for Sister so and so who was setting up images of angels in her house in order to worship them and invoke their protection. Epaphras prayed that the Lord would intervene and remove them and she would see the uselessness of worshiping mere objects when she could be worshiping the Creator of the Universe, the Lord Jesus Christ.

  When I was a new Christian, I remember hearing the founder of the Slavic Gospel Association, Peter Deyneka, speak on prayer. One phrase he repeated over and over again in his Russian accent was “mucha prayer, mucha power!” Epaphras understood this as well. He was always praying for the work in the Lycus Valley and he expected God to do great things among the saints in the churches. He prayed specifically that they would: First, stand perfect in the face of heresy; and second, be complete is all the will of God (4:12). In essence, what he was praying for is that they would be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:27-30). Epaphras was Paul’s “true scholar in the school of intercessory prayer.” How is our prayer life? Do we spend time praying for specific individuals and specific needs of those being prayed for?

  Paul concludes this section by using a legal word picture of a witness who appears before a court and gives testimony to an event (4:13). In this case, he testifies to the saints in the Lycus Valley that Epaphras had a “great zeal for you.” In other words, Epaphras gave 100% of his effort in prayer and work, for the people in the three churches in the valley: Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis.

  Applications

  Apparently Epaphras does not return with Tychicus and Philemon when they took the letters to the Lycus Valley. What happens to him after that, we do not know. Does he stay with Paul in Rome? Was he eventually martyred? Does he return to the Lycus Valley after Paul is released from his imprisonment? Scripture and church history are silent on these questions. There are, however, at least three things we can learn from the life of this man of prayer.

  First, he exercised his gift as an evangelist in planting churches in the Lycus Valley. It seems that churches today hire somebody to be called the pastor and pay him to exercise all the spiritual gifts so they can sit back and be entertained! The New Testament Church did not function that way. God gave gifted men and women to the Body of Christ and each individual believer was given at least one spiritual gift that could be exercised in order to build up the local church. Epaphras had the gift of an evangelist. Not all of us have that gift. The gift is not to be confused with the command to evangelize. To evangelize is for all believers. Believers in the Lord Jesus should know their gift and exercise it.

  Second, when he saw a problem in the church he made it his priority to pray about the situation. His prayers were not just, “God bless the people at Colossae,” but rather fervent, continuous prayers for the people and situation that arose in the churches of the Lycus Valley. Epaphras knew that God changes the hearts of men and women and that is why he labored much in prayer. How much emphasis do we put on intercessory prayer? What are our priorities for the mid-week prayer meeting?

  Someone once remarked: “Have you ever heard of a church named the Church of St. Epaphras”? In all my travels, I have never seen one, nor am I aware of one in early Church literature or archaeological excavations. In fact, I Googled the name, “Church of St. Epaphras”, and got nothing! Now that does not mean there never was one. The ancient mound of Colossae has not been excavated … yet. Knowing those Byzantine church builders, however, there might be a church of St. Epaphras somewhere underneath the opium fields of Colossae!

  Third, when he realized his lack of understanding on certain issues, he sought godly counsel from an individual who knew the Word of God better than he did and who knew what the issues were.

  Well might we learn some practical lessons from this man of fervent prayer and apply them to our own lives and go out and build up the Body of Christ for His honor and glory.

  Bibliography

  Arnold, Clinton E.
  1996 The Colossian Syncretism. The Interface Between Christianity and Folk Belief at Colossae. Grand Rapids: Baker.

  Berding, Kenneth
  2006 What Are Spiritual Gifts? Rethinking the Conventional View. Grand Rapids: Kregel.

  Bruce, F. F.
  1984a Jews and Christians in the Lycus Valley. Bibliotheca Sacra 141:3-15.

  ______1984b The Colossian Heresy. Bibliotheca Sacra 141: 195-208.

  DeMaris, Richard E.
  1994 The Colossian Controversy. Wisdom in Dispute at Colossae. Sheffield: JSOT. JSNTSS 96.

  Eusebius
  1980 Ecclesiastical History. Vol. 1. Trans. by K. Lake. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Loeb Classical Library 153.

  Hadidian, Dikran
  1966 Shorter Communications. Eph. 4:11. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 28/3: 317-321.

  Hendriksen, William
  1964 Exposition of Colossians and Philemon. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

  Hiebert, D. Edmond
  1979 Epaphras, Man of Prayer. Bibliotheca Sacra 136: 54-64.

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

  Jerome
  1994 Lives of Illustrious Men. Pp. 353-402 in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Second series. Vol. 3. Edited by P. Schaff and H. Wace. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

  Johnson, Sherman E.
  1950 Laodicea and Its Neighbors. Biblical Archaeologist 13/1: 1-18.

  Kreitzer, Larry J.
  2003 Epaphras and Philip: The Undercover Evangelists of Hierapolis. Pp. 127-143 in “You Will Be My Witnesses”: A Festschrift in Honor of the Reverend Dr. Allison A. Trites on the Occasion of His Retirement. Edited by R. G. Wooden; T. R. Ashley; and R. S. Wilson. Macon, GA: Mercer University.

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

  Morgan-Gillman, Florence
  1992 Epaphras. P. 533 in Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 2. Edited by D. N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday.

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

  Seekings, Herbert S.
  1914 The Men of the Pauline Circle. London: Charles H. Kelly.
• 04Feb

  Barnabas: A Good Man

  Profiles in Missions Comments Off on Barnabas: A Good Man

  By Gordon Franz

  Introduction

  If I mentioned the name Barney, who would come to mind? If you belong to the Geritole crowd you would probably think of that goofy sheriff’s deputy from Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show (Don Knotts). For those with money as the love of their life, they would probably think of the investment firm, Smith-Barney. If you are a young person or parents of children you would probably think of that purple dinosaur that goes around singing, “I love you, you love me; we’re one big happy family.” (My parents are into the genealogy scene big time. The last time I check with them, we did not have any reptilian ancestors climbing around in our family tree!).

  The Bible mentions a fellow named Barney. Actually his name was Yosef ha-Levi. We would say in English, Joseph the Levite. The apostles gave this man from the island of Cyprus the nickname, Barnabas, which in Aramaic means “son of encouragement” (Acts 4: 36). The nickname was well deserved because he had a solid reputation of encouraging people in the things of the Lord.

  Barney was a lesser-known apostle, but greatly used of the Lord. You see, if Barnabas did not go around encouraging people and seeing potential in them, in spite of their past track record of failures, we may not have half of our New Testament! Now I realize this statement is made apart from the sovereignty of God, and no doubt, God would have risen up others for the task, but Barnabas encouraged Saul, (later known as Paul) and John Mark at crucial points in their spiritual lives. If he had not encouraged Paul and John Mark, we might not have had the Pauline epistles, or the gospel of Mark.

  Luke characterizes Barnabas as a “good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (Acts 11:24). I would like to ask the question, “What made him good?” The immediate context says he was full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

  The Apostle Paul sets forth the doctrinal truth of the filling of the Holy Spirit in Eph. 5:18, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” When a person comes to faith in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit indwells that person’s life. The believer has all the Holy Spirit he / she will ever get. The issue Paul raises with the command to be “filled with the Holy Spirit” is not how much of the Holy Spirit a believer has, but how much the Holy Spirit controls the believer. The illustration that Paul uses is that of wine controlling the actions of an individual, so the Holy Spirit should control every action of a believer. Paul commands every believer in the Lord Jesus to be controlled by, or yielded to, the Holy Spirit’s control of his or her lives. The “faith” refers to trusting the Lord in his daily life.

  The Introduction to a Good Man

  When we first meet Barnabas we learn that he is a Levite from the Island of Cyprus, off the coast of present day Lebanon. What do we know about Levites? They were the priestly family that ministered in the Tabernacle in the wilderness and in the First and Second Temples. After the Children of Israel entered the Promised Land and conquered it, they met at Shiloh to divide up the Land. Each tribe received an allotment, except the tribe of Levi. The Levites were scattered throughout the rest of the tribes so they could teach the Word of God as well as lead travelers to Jerusalem for the pilgrimages. The Levites had no land of their own and were dependent upon the people of the tribes to supply their daily bread. That is why it is stated of the Levites, “the LORD is their portion, or inheritance.” Ultimately they were dependant upon the Lord for their daily food.

  What was unusual about Barnabas was that he was not living in Eretz Israel, but in the Diaspora, outside the Land of Israel. In addition, he was a property owner!

  Barnabas was part of a sizable Jewish community on the island of Cyprus (Safrai and Stern 1974: 154,155; 1976: 711,712). Philo, the First Century AD Jewish philosopher living in Alexandria, Egypt, wrote a letter to Emperor Gaius Caligula in AD 38. In it, he recounts all the places where there are Jewish colonies. Of the islands he says, “And not only are the mainlands full of Jewish colonies but also the most highly esteemed of the islands Euboea, Cyprus, Crete” (Embassy to Gaius 282; LCL 10:143).

  Barnabas was good because he had a Biblical view of financial stewardship – Acts 4:32-37

  The early church had “all things in common”. In other words, they voluntarily shared their possessions with their brothers and sisters in Christ. Please note this is not communism or socialism. Under communism the state forces individuals, against their will, to give up their possessions or income in order to provide for others. Communism is a government induced, forced redistribution of wealth.

  The voluntary sharing of their goods was a manifestation of their “oneness in Christ” and was a powerful testimony to the words of the Lord Jesus in His High Priestly prayer in John 17. In this prayer, He prayed, “I do not pray for these alone [the eleven disciples], but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that you sent Me” (17:20,21).

  Barnabas put his money where his mouth was. He sold his land and gave all the money to the apostles for sharing with others. He exemplified what Paul would later state, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. … So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 8:9: 9:7). Barnabas did not give ten percent [actually the OT tithe was 20.6% when all the different tithes are added up] he gave 100%. In so doing, Barnabas also lived up to his Levitical heritage, “the LORD is your portion, or inheritance”. He was now living in total dependence upon the Lord for his daily needs.

  Perhaps it was his example that encouraged the believers in the church at Antioch to help in the relief effort of the Jerusalem church during the famine in the days of Emperor Claudius (Acts 11:27-30). The elders in Antioch chose Barnabas and Saul to deliver the food and money to Jerusalem (11:30; 12:25).

  Do we have God’s perspective on giving? Are we giving 100% of ourselves?

  Isaac Watts (1674-1748) caught the essence of New Testament giving in one of his hymns, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”

  Were the whole realm of nature mine,
  That were an offering far too small;
  Love so amazing, so divine,
  Demands my soul, my life, my all.

  Barnabas was a good man because he had a Biblical view of building up the Body of Christ – Acts 11:19-26.

  I’m sure most of you have been out driving around and gotten lost at one time or another. If you are a man, you said to yourself, “I can find it myself.” If you are a woman, you probably asked for directions. The principle is this, “When you can not do the task yourself, seek help.” Barnabas saw a need in the church at Antioch. Gentiles were getting saved and needed to be instructed in the Word of God. He knew he could not do it himself, so he sought out and found Paul. Barnabas knew Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; Gal. 2:7).

  Do we seek help when we know we cannot do the job ourselves? A number of years ago I was working with the young peoples group at church. One time I proposed a conference for the young people in the area. One of the leaders was quick to say that he would organize the conference. He knew I did not have the gift of administration because I am one of the most disorganized individuals there is. He had the gift of administration and did a tremendous job in organizing the event.

  Barnabas was good because he had a Biblical view of disciplining others – Acts 12:25; 13:1,13.

  God’s pattern of discipleship is sending out men, two-by-two, disciplining others who will continue the work (2 Tim. 2:2). Early Church tradition holds that Barnabas was one of the Seventy sent out by Jesus two-by-two (Luke 10:1; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 12:1). If this was the case, Barnabas learned the Biblical pattern of discipleship from the Lord Himself. When some of the apostles went out on a mission trip, they took their wives (1 Cor. 9:5,6). But the husband and wife are “one flesh” and do not constitute a team of “two-by-two”. God has no “Lone Ranger” missionaries in the New Testament.

  Another aspect of discipleship is following up on those who have trusted Christ as Savior and to encourage them to get into a local fellowship. After Barnabas and Paul finished their work in Derbe they returned to the other cities that they had previously visited and strengthened the souls of the disciples and exhorted them to continue in the faith. They also appointed elders in every church (Acts 14:21-23).

  On their first missionary journey in AD 47, Barnabas and Paul were partners in evangelism and discipleship. They practiced the “two-by-two” approach and had disciples along with them, John Mark and possibly Dr. Luke.

  Barnabas was good because he had a Biblical view of missions – Acts 13:4,5.

  The first stop on the missionary journey was the island of Cyprus. Most likely the reason they went to Cyprus first was that it was the home of Barnabas and the relatives of John Mark (cf. Acts 4: 36; Col. 4:10). The pattern for missions seems to be to reach family and friends first.

  As noted before, there were Jewish colonies on the island of Cyprus. Paul was establishing a precedent that he states in Rom. 1:16, “to the Jews first, and then to the Gentiles” with the Gospel. The Jewish people already had the Scriptures and would be easier to reason with than the Gentiles about their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

  The apostle Paul had a heart for the Jewish people to come to faith in the Lord Jesus (Rom. 10:1), even though he and Barnabas were apostles to the Gentiles (Gal. 2:9).

  Another aspect of missions is keeping the home church informed of the activities of the missionaries. Upon their return to Antioch they “reported all that God had with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27).

  A third aspect of missions is that Paul and Barnabas took “secular employment” while on their missionary journeys even though, as apostles, they could refrain from working (1 Cor. 9:6). They did not want to be a burden on the churches (2 Thess. 3:7-9).

  Do we have a Biblical view of missions?

  Barnabas was a good man because he had a Biblical view of idolatry – Acts 14:11-18.

  During their first missionary journey (Acts 13, 14), Barnabas and Paul stopped at the city of Lystra in the district of Lycaonia (Acts 14:5-20). While there, they encountered a crippled man from birth who had never walked. Paul commands him to walk. He got up, leaped and walked.

  The people of Lystra began to sacrifice oxen in honor of Barnabas and Paul. Paul and Barnabas thought it was a big cookout and said, “Hot dog (kosher, of course), we’re going to have a big bar-be-que today, sirloin streak, prime rib, and filet minion.” Unbeknownst to them, because the people were speaking in the Lycaonian language, Barnabas and Paul were about to be worshipped as gods. They thought Barnabas was Zeus perhaps because he looked older and had a long distinguished beard. They thought Paul was Hermes, the messenger god of Zeus, because Paul was the one doing all the talking. When they realize what was going on, they tried to stop it. They said they were human beings just like the people of Lystra were. Why did the people of Lystra act this way?

  There was a Roman poet named Ovid (43 BC – AD 17) who was educated in Rome. Upon the completion of his studies he toured the Greek lands, collecting local stories of the activities of the Greek gods and goddesses. One or two of his poems offended Emperor Augustus and Ovid was exiled to the provincial town of Tomis on the Black Sea in AD 8. Just before he was exiled, he wrote a poem called Metamorphoses, which means “transformation”. In it, he described objects that were transformed from one state to another. Sometimes the transformation involved gods that took on human form.

  The story is told that Jupiter and Mercury (their Greek counterparts are Zeus and Hermes) visited the region of Phrygia, to the west of Lyconia. They were incognito, disguised as human beings. Nobody showed them hospitality until they came to the small hut of an elderly couple, Philemon and Baucis. This couple welcomed their unknown guests and showed hospitality by serving them a cabbage and pork stew without knowing their true identity. Zeus rewarded their kindness and hospitality by removing them before a flood washed away their neighbors. After the flood, their hut was made into a temple and the couple became the priests of the temple (Metamorphoses 8: 606-721; Slavitt 1994: 165-168).

  It is understandable why the Lyconians from Lystra called out, “The gods have come down to visit us.” The people thought they knew a god when they saw one and did not want to mess up this time! There is an archaeological basis for this story because there is archaeological evidence that Zeus and Hermes were worshipped in the area.

  Most of us do not bow down to a statue or an idol, yet Paul says “idolatry which is covetousness” (Col. 3:5). How many of us are greedy and want what others have? Or are we content with what the Lord has given us (Phil. 4:11; 1 Tim. 6:8; Heb. 13:5)?

  Barnabas was a good man because he had a Biblical view of salvation – Acts 15:1-35.

  From Genesis to Revelation, salvation has always been by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. In the Old Testament, a person trusted that the LORD would send a Savior, the Lamb of God (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:1-5; Isa. 53:6). In the New Testament a person looks back to Calvary and trust the Lord Jesus Christ as the One who died and paid for all sin. When people put their trust in Him, and Him alone, for their salvation, they have the forgiveness of sins, a home in heaven and the righteousness of God (John 3:16; Eph. 2:8,9; Tit. 3:8; Phil. 3:9).

  Certain men of the sect of the Pharisees came from Judea to the church at Antioch to inform them that a Gentile must undergo circumcision in order to be saved (15:1). Paul and Barnabas took strong exception to this teaching. In order to resolve this theological conflict, the church sent them to Jerusalem for a ruling from the apostles and elders concerning this issue. The apostles agreed with Barnabas and Paul that a Gentile does not have to be circumcised for salvation. It was around this time that Paul wrote the epistle to the Galatians, either slightly before the Jerusalem Council, or soon after.

  Barnabas was a good man because he had a Biblical approach to conflict management – Acts 15:36-41.

  John Mark left Barnabas and Paul after they had visited Cyprus. We are not told why he left. When Paul suggested to Barnabas that they visit the churches of Cyprus and Galatia, Barnabas insisted on taking John Mark. Paul would hear nothing of it and there was a sharp contention between the two. How was this resolved? I can imagine part of the conversation. Probably Barnabas said, “Paul, I vouched for you before the Jerusalem brethren when nobody believed your conversion!” (Acts 9:27).

  There are two ways to resolve conflicts, either in a constructive or destructive manner. The constructive manner is always a win / win situation for both parties. The destructive manner could be either a win / lose or lose / lose proposition.

  Disagreements in the church will not hurt the testimony of the congregation as long as the leaders see the “big picture” of God’s redemptive purposes. What is really important? The goal of conflict resolution is to build up the Body of Christ.

  This was a win / win decision; there were two missionary teams.

  My sense is that John Mark realized he had “dropped the ball” and worked on being faithful (1 Cor. 4:2). Perhaps he had some rough edges that needed to be smoothed and Barnabas was the one to work with him. Somewhere along the line, John Mark and Paul are reconciled. During Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, we know that John Mark is with him because he sends greetings to the church in Colosse and to Philemon (Col. 4:10; Philemon 24). Paul, writing during his second imprisonment, instructs Timothy to “Get John Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11).

  Do we seek to resolve conflicts in a Biblical way? Are we seeking a win / win solution to our conflicts? Are we encouraging others and looking for the potential they have?

  Barnabas was a good man because he was teachable and we assume he corrected his unbiblical view of fellowship – Gal. 2:11-14.

  When the apostle Peter was in Antioch-on-the-Orontes, he ate with both Jewish believers and Gentile believers in the Lord Jesus. Once, when certain men from James came to visit, Peter separated himself from the Gentile believers and ate only with the Jewish believers. Barnabas, following the lead of Peter, separated himself as well. Paul rebuked both of them. The issue at sake is not what Barnabas and Peter ate, but whom they ate it with. In other words, fellowship, not the “kosher-ness” of the food, was the issue.

  Paul rebuked them because this issue was the “truth of the Gospel” (2:14). Peter was marring a beautiful picture that Paul would later write about, of Jews and Gentiles in One Body (Eph. 3). Barnabas had been hoodwinked by Peter, but corrected by Paul.

  Do we seek the fellowship of the Lord’s people? Is our fellowship based on our common life in the Lord Jesus or the light one has regarding the Scriptures? In other words, is my fellowship based on whether a person is a brother or sister in Christ or if the person agrees with all my theology?

  Afterwards

  What happened to Barnabas after he and John Mark went back to Cyprus? When Paul wrote First Corinthians about AD 55, Barnabas was still active in the Lord’s work (1 Cor. 9:6). Where he was and what he was doing is not stated. According to Tertullian, a third Century early Church Father, Barnabas was the unnamed human author of the epistle to the Hebrews (On Modesty 20; ANF 4:97).

  Church tradition says that Barnabas and John Mark “continued their missionary work and Barnabas became the first Bishop of Salamis, his native city, where he is said to have been martyred and secretly buried by his cousin Mark” (Meinardus 1973: 11; Acts of Barnabas; Roberts and Donaldson 1994: 495,496). The Recognitions of Clement states that Barnabas was active in ministry in Rome, Alexandria in Egypt and Caesarea in Judea (1994: 78-80; Zahn 1907: 459, footnote 2).

  To the west of the ancient ruins of Salamis there is a Greek Orthodox monastery dedicated to Barnabas. In the area is a tomb that is said to be that of Barnabas. Whether it is or not, only the resurrection will tell for sure.

  Applications

  In our study of the Life of Barnabas, were discovered that he was a “good man” because he was filled with the Holy Spirit and a man of faith who trust the Lord for his daily needs. He was also good because he had a biblical view of financial giving, of building up the Body of Christ, and of disciplining others, missions, idolatry, conflict management and a teachable attitude when he was wrong.

  Dr. D. Edmond Hiebert summarizes the life and ministry of Barnabas in this way: “Barnabas stands out as one of the choicest saints of the early Christian Church. He had a gracious personality, characterized by a generous disposition, and possessed a gift of insight concerning the spiritual potential of others. He excelled in building bridges of sympathy and understanding across the chasms of difference which divided individuals, classes, and [ethnic groups]. He lived apart from petty narrowness and suspicion and had a largeness of heart that enabled him to encourage those who failed and to succor the friendless and needy. He did have his faults and shortcomings, but those faults arose out of the very traits that made him such a kind and generous man – his ready sympathy for others’ feelings and his eagerness to think the best of everyone” (1992: 52).

  Bibliography

  Bruce, F. F.
  1995 Paul, Apostle of the Heart Set Free. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

  Eusebius
  1980 Ecclesiastical History. Vol. 1. Translated by K. Lake. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Loeb Classical Library.

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

  Meinardus, Otto F. A.
  1973 St. Paul in Ephesus and the Cities of Galatia and Cyprus. Athens: Lycabettus.

  Philo
  1991 The Embassy to Gaius. Vol. 10. Translated by F. H. Colson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard university. Loeb Classical Library.

  Roberts, Alexander, and Donaldson, James, eds.
  1994a The Acts of Barnabas. Pp. 355,493-496 in Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 8. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

  ______1994b Recognitions of Clement. Pp. 77-211 in Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 8. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

  Safrai, S., and Stern, M.
  1974 The Jewish People in the First Century. Vol. 1. Assen: Van Gorcum and Philadelphia: Fortress.

  ______1975 1976 The Jewish People in the First Century. Vol. 2. Assen: Van Gorcum and Philadelphia: Fortress.

  Slavitt, David
  1994 The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University.

  Tertullian
  1994 On Modesty. Pp. 74-101 in Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 4. Peasbody, MA: Hendrickson.

  Zahn, Theod.
  1907 Missionary Methods in the Times of the Apostles. Expositor, 7^th series. 4: 456-473.
• 04Feb

  Apollos: Eloquent And Mighty In The Scriptures

  Profiles in Missions Comments Off on Apollos: Eloquent And Mighty In The Scriptures

  By Gordon Franz

  Dr. Luke described the itinerant preacher, Apollos as an “eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures” (Acts 18:24). It is a rare combination to find a preacher who is both eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures. Usually a preacher is one or the other, or neither! Several examples of ones who are both are Charles Spurgeon, Charles Stanley and Chuck Swindol. I guess if your name is Charlie you have a leg up on the competition!

  I would like to examine the life of a lesser-known apostle, Apollos, and ask three questions. First, what were the external influences in his life that helped him become eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures? Second, how did his knowledge of the Scriptures affect his personal ministry? Then of course, the obvious question, what can we learn from his life?

  Apollos first appears in the Scriptures in the city of Ephesus after the apostle Paul left his two friends, Aquilla and Priscilla to minister there while he returned to Jerusalem in AD 52. Apollos might have been a “commercial traveler who engaged in religious teaching as well as in a trade” (Bruce 1985: 52). He would be similar to a Jewish merchant named Ananias, who went to the Kingdom of Adiabene on business and converted the royal family to Judaism (Josephus, Antiquities 20:34-49; LCL 10:19-27).

  In Acts 18:24, 25 it says, “Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.” I believe to key to understanding Apollos’ eloquence and being mighty in the Scriptures lies in where he was from … Alexandria, Egypt. Where he lived and whom he associated himself with had an impact on his preaching.

  External Influences

  Alexandria, Egypt

  Permit me to use my sanctified imagination as we take an imaginary trip to the city of Apollos’ birth. This city was the second largest city in the Roman world and the capital of the Roman province of Egypt. It is situated on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea on the western edge of the Nile Delta.

  The city was founded by Alexander the Great in 332/1 BC after he conquered Egypt. It was his desire to establish a “large and populous Greek city which should bear his name” (Plutarch, Alexander 26:2; LCL 7:299). The ancient sources tell the story of Alexander the Great dreaming he should build a city near the island of Pharos. He gathered together his city planners and architects lead by Deinokrates of Rhodes. Since they did not have chalk to lay out the lines of the city they used barley grain. As they were admiring their work a large variety of birds came and ate up the seeds. Alexander was disturbed by this omen, but his seers calmed his nerves by saying it was a good sign because “the city founded by him would have most abundant and helpful resources and be a nursing mother for men of every nation” (Plutarch, Alexander 26:6; LCL 7:301). The seers’ guess turned out to e on the mark because in the days of Apollos, Egypt was the breadbasket for Rome and all of Egypt’s exported grain left from the ports at Alexandria. Strabo, the Greek geographer who lived in Alexandria from 24-20 BC, gave a detailed description of the city boasted that Alexandria was “the greatest emporium in the inhabited world” (Geography 17:1:13; LCL 8:53).

  The city was divided into five districts. Each labeled by the first five letters of the Greek alphabet, i.e. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. Most likely, Apollos lived in the Delta District located in the northeast part of the city. The largest Jewish community in the Diaspora, those living outside the Land of Israel, resided in this district. Philo, a First Century AD Jewish philosopher, living in Alexandria, said that the Jewish population of Egypt was about one million Jews and a large portion of them lived in Alexandria (Flaccus 43; 1993: 728).

  Alexandria was blessed with two harbors, one called the Great Harbor and the other called the Eunostus Harbor, or “Happy Landing Harbor”! At the mouth of the Great Harbor stood the Lighthouse of Pharos, one of the “Seven Wonders” of the ancient world (Strabo, Geography 17:1:6; LCL 8:23,25; Empereur 1998: 82-87).

  To the west of the Jewish District was the Beta District, or Bruchium. This Central District made up about a quarter of the city and contained temple, palaces and public buildings. They included the tomb of Alexander the Great and the later Ptolemaic kings and queens, the palaces of the Ptolemaic kings, a temple to Poseidon, the Caesarium (also called the Sebasteum) and the great library of Alexandria.

  Caesarium

  I believe these last two buildings had an impact on the life of Apollos. The Caesarium began as an altar built by Cleopatra in order to worship Mark Antony. Later, after Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII committed suicide (30 BC), Octavian, known in the New Testament as Caesar Augustus, got rid of all the statues of Mark Antony and set up a temple in honor of the emperor, Julius Caesar because it was thought that Julius was the protectorate of the sailors. The emperors were worshipped as gods by the sailors and invoked for safe passage as they plied the seas.

  Philo, a Jewish philosopher living in Alexandria, describes this structure this way: “For there is elsewhere no precinct like that which is called the Sebasteum, a temple to Caesar on shipboard, situated on an eminence facing the harbours famed for their excellent moorage, huge and conspicuous, fitted on a scale not found elsewhere with dedicated offerings, around it a girdle of pictures and statues in gold and silver, forming a precinct of vast breadth, embellished with porticoes, libraries, chambers, groves, gateways and wide open courts and everything which lavish expenditure could produce to beautify it – the whole a hope of safety to the voyager either going into or out of the harbour” (Embassy to Gaius 151; LCL 10:77; Levy 1982-83: 102-117). There are very few archaeological remains of this great structure (Empereur 1998: 111-123).

  After Julius Caesar was assassinated, the Roman senate, as they did with almost all the Roman emperors, deified him. However, in the days of Apollos, the Emperor Gaius Caligula could not wait to die in order to be deified, so he deified himself. This act of arrogance led to the pogrom against the Jews in AD 38.

  The Greek Alexandrians wanted to put statues of Gaius Caligula in every synagogue in Alexandria in order to make the Jews worship him as a god. The Jewish population refused and rioting ensued and the Greeks attacked and massacred a number of Jews in the city (Antiquities 18: 257; LCL 9: 153).

  In AD 41, Gaius Caligula was assassinated in Rome. Upon hearing this news, the Jews of Alexandria armed themselves and sought revenge on the Greeks (Josephus, Antiquities 19: 278-279; LCL 9: 343, 345). The new emperor, Claudius, issued an edict to the Alexandrians to stop their fighting and restored the rights of the Jewish people of Alexandria (Antiquities 19: 380-389; LCL 9: 345-351).

  As Apollos departed from the harbor of Alexandria he could have looked back at the Caesarium and see two obelisks. Both had been made by Pharaoh Thutmose III (ca. 1500 BC) and brought to Alexandria by Octavian from the Temple of Ra in Heliopolis in 13 BC. In the 18^th and 19^th centuries the pilgrims and travelers to Egypt called these obelisks “Cleopatra’s needles”. Today these two obelisks have been removed: one to London and the other to New York City. The New York obelisk was re-erected in Central Park behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1880 (D’Alton 1993). One day I visited this obelisk and thought, “I’ll bet Apollos looked at this obelisk from the ship he was on as he sailed from his home city.” Apollos was “instructed in the ways of the Lord”, and from his study of the Scriptures he understood that the LORD was God and not the Caesars.

  The Library of Alexandria

  The second building that could have influenced the life and ministry of Apollos was the famous library of Alexandria. Josephus Flavius, the first century Jewish historian, said the library was established by Ptolemy II (Philadelphus). He made Demetrius of Phalerum the head librarian because he was “anxious to collect, if he could, all the books in the inhabited world, and, if he heard of, or saw, any book worthy of study, he would buy it” (Antiquities 12:12; LCL 7:9). Over the years they collected books from Greece, Rome, Egypt and even as far away as India. For Biblical studies, Demetrius was instrumental in getting a number of Jewish writings translated from Hebrew or Aramaic into Greek. His most important accomplishment was having the Hebrew Bible translated into Greek. This was called the Septuagint (LXX) after the seventy Jewish Alexandrians who translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek. Josephus tells us there were up to a half a million volumes in this library. Part of the library was destroyed when Julias Caesar invaded Egypt in 48 BC, however the part in the Serapeum, the temple of Jupiter Serapis, was spared. Later, Mark Antony presented his girlfriend Cleopatra with a large gift of scrolls from the Pergamum library. The libraries of Alexandria were finally destroyed in AD 391 when Emperor Theodosius decreed that all the pagan temples in the Roman Empire be destroyed. The libraries in Alexandria were the largest in the ancient world and probably contained a section for Jewish studies (Casson 2001: 31-47). This section was a scholars’ paradise! I am sure that Apollos could have take advantage of this opportunity to study in the libraries.

  One of the secrets of being “mighty in the Scriptures” was studying and memorizing the Word of God. Apollos was in an environment that was conducive to studying the Scriptures. In antiquities, books could be found in public libraries, synagogues, and churches or in private libraries of the very wealthy. A good example of the latter is the Villa de Papiri outside of Herculaneum in Italy. This villa belonged to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law and contained 1,800 papyrus scrolls, mostly in Greek. The villa was covered and preserved by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. These papyrus scrolls are being carefully preserved and translated by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

  The Apostle Paul made books a priority in his life. Even when he was in a Roman prison, he wrote to Timothy and requested he stop in Alexandria Troas and pick up his coat as well as the books and parchments before he came to Rome (1 Tim. 4:13).

  A number of years ago I was working with the young people at my home assembly. At a meeting of the counselors we decided to do First Timothy in the Bible study on Friday night. I suggested to my fellow counselors that we all go out and buy some good commentaries on the epistle. One counselor baulked and said, “What? Spend money on a book?” I looked him in the eye and said: “Don’t look at buying books as spending money. Look at it as an investment in your ministry to young people!”

  None of us will ever come close to being Paul, Peter or Apollos, but we can follow Paul’s admonition to Timothy. “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). The secret to Apollos being mighty in the Scriptures can be summed up in three words: Study, study, and study!

  Philo

  A possible influence on Apollos’s life was Philo, the Jewish philosopher who was an eloquent preacher. He was also known for his allegorical method of interpreting the Scriptures. This later had an influence on an Alexandrian church father, Augustine.

  Knowledge of the Scriptures and Personal Ministry

  The second question, how did his knowledge of the Scriptures affect his personal ministry?

  Luke goes on to say, “So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (18:26).

  Open and Teachable

  The first way Apollos’ knowledge affected his ministry was that he was open and teachable to further truths from the Scriptures.

  Apollos could have gone up to Jerusalem for one of the three Jewish pilgrimages sometime between AD 26 and 28 (Deut. 16:16,17). If he was there, he could have heard a preacher, known amongst the Jewish people as Yohanan ben Zacharius. This firebrand preacher’s message was pointed: “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:1-12; Mark 1:1-8; Luke 3:1-20; John 1:6-8,15-37). Apollos, from his studies of the Scriptures, would have known that the time of the coming of the Messiah was near. As an Israelite saint, he trusted in God and looked forward to the Messiah Who would completely take away his sins and offer him total forgiveness of all his sins (cf. Gen. 15; 6; Ps. 32:1,2; Rom. 4). Someone has described Apollos’s salvation as a credit card salvation. With credit cards: one buys now and pays later! Apparently he believed John the Baptizer’s message that Someone else would pay for his sins and understood what John’s baptism was about, but Apollos did not know that Jesus was the Messiah that John was pointing too.

  Apollos spoke “boldly in the synagogue” (18:26a). The text of his message that he so eloquently expounded was most likely Isaiah 40 and Malachi 3. Prepare the way for the Messiah. In the synagogue service was Aquila and Priscilla. They knew Apollos was on the right track, but had not gone far enough. He needed more light. They took him aside and “explained to him the way of God more accurately” (18:26b). Most likely, they invited him home for dinner and after a good meal they added to and clarified his understanding of the Scriptures. Apollos received the instruction gladly.

  Now Apollos had the complete message. The Messiah had already come and died on a cross outside the city of Jerusalem in order to pay for all the sins of all humanity. He rose from the dead three days later and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. The Lord Jesus offers the forgiveness of sins to any and all who will put their trust in Him. He provides His righteousness to believers in Him so they can stand before a holy God, clothed in a righteousness freely given by grace through faith alone in the Lord Jesus (Phil. 3:9; Eph. 2:8,9; 1 Cor. 15:1-4).

  Edify the Church and Defend the Faith

  The second way Apollos’ knowledge affected his ministry was that he exercised his spiritual gift, most likely teaching (Rom. 12:7), and went to Corinth in order to help the believers there (18:27).

  In Corinth, Apollos had a twofold ministry. First, he taught the Scriptures to those who “believed through grace” (18:27). Second, he had an apologetic ministry to the Jewish people in Corinth, using his considerable knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures (but most likely the Septuagint, the Greek version) to demonstrate that Jesus was the fulfillment of all that the Prophets predicted (18:28). He would have shown how Isaiah prophesied His virgin birth (7:14) and the death of the Messiah for sin (52:13-53:12). Micah predicted His birth in Bethlehem of Judah (Micah 5:2). David predicted the Messiah’s death on a cruel cross (Ps. 22), and His subsequent resurrection (Ps. 16:9-11).

  Apollos’s eloquence led to a major problem in the church at Corinth. Paul describes the Corinthian believers as carnal because they followed personalities. Some in the church would say, “I am of Paul.” Others would say, “I am of Apollos or Peter.” And the real pious ones would say, “I am of Jesus.” Paul spent four chapters of his first epistle to this church trying to straighten out this problem (1 Cor. 1:12; 3:4-6,22; 4:6).

  Paul uses three illustrations to rebuke their carnality and give them a Biblical perspective of the Lord’s work and workers. The first illustration he uses is an agricultural word picture. Corinth was famous for it’s grapes. In fact, the word “current” comes from the word Corinth. Paul points out that he planted, Apollos watered, but it was God who gave the increase (1 Cor. 3:6). Paul goes on to say that he and Apollos were farmers laboring together, but God is the one who ultimately gives the bountiful harvest and each is given a reward according to his labors (3:7).

  The second word picture is of a builder building a temple. There was plenty of building activity in Corinth during the 4^th decade of the first century AD. Paul points out that he laid the foundation, which is Christ, but others, including Apollos, built on top of it (1 Cor. 3:9-11). It was a team effort and they were working together.

  The third illustration is a beautiful word picture found in 1 Cor. 4:1. “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” He invites the Corinthian believers to consider “us”, in the context, the people are Paul, Peter and Apollos and he says they are “servants.” This word is not the Greek word “dulos” used for slaves or domestic servants, but the word “huperetes” which should be translated “under-rowers”. The recipients of First Corinthians would have caught this powerful word picture because Corinth was a maritime city with two harbors: Lechaio on the Gulf of Corinth and Cenchrea on the Saronic Gulf. Trading vessels would dock at one, off load their cargo and carry it overland to the other port. Then they would drag the boat across the isthmus via the Diolkos. If the ship was too large, the cargo was off loaded and carried overland to the other port and placed on another large vessel.

  Some of the larger vessels that plied the Aegean Sea were the trireme vessels. This kind of ship had three decks of oarsmen, or “under-rowers”. These were freedmen, not slaves, who had volunteered for this job. They were seated on the three decks underneath the main deck and could not see where they were going or what was going on around them. They were to “row by faith and not by sight” (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7). In order to do this, they had to trust the captain on the top deck to take them safely to their final destination. The captain had a drum at his side and the drummer would beat out the strokes. “Boom”, then they would take a stroke. “Boom”, then another stroke. The only thing the under-rowers listened for was the beat of the captains’ drum and not that of any other ships around them.

  The word-picture is clear: Paul, Peter and Apollos were under-rowers, listening to the drumbeat of the Captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom they could not see. They rowed together, by faith, so they could swiftly and safely reach their final destination. The believers in Corinth needed to get on board and row together with them as well, following the beat of the Captain’s drum. They needed to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word.

  Apollos apparently was with Paul in Ephesus when he wrote First Corinthians. Paul encouraged him to return to Corinth in order to help straighten out the carnality in the assembly. Apollos, for whatever reason, declined this invitation (1 Cor. 16:12). Paul did write that Apollos would come at a more convenient time.

  New Testament Pattern of Missions

  The third way Apollos’s knowledge affected his ministry was that he followed the New Testament pattern of missions. When the Lord Jesus sent out His disciples, He sent them out “two-by-two” (Luke 10:1; Matt. 10:2-4). In the early church, the apostles followed this same pattern. Peter and Silvanus went to the Roman provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asis and Bythinia (1 Pet. 1:1; 5:12). The Holy Spirit sent out Barnabas and Saul on their first missionary endeavor (Acts 13:1-4). Later we see Barnabas and John Mark (Acts 15:39), Paul and Silas (Acts 15:40), Paul and Aquila / Pricilla (Acts 18:18), and Paul and Luke (Luke 27:1).

  This pattern of missions afforded both men who went out two-by-two, an opportunity to disciple a small group of men (2 Tim. 2:2) in sort of a “traveling seminary” with “on the job training” (Acts 20:4). They would both be accountable to each other and also a source of encouragement for one another. There were no “Lone Ranger” missionaries in the New Testament!

  Some Bible teachers believe that Paul wrote the epistle to Titus from Corinth. If that is the case, perhaps this was the “convenient time” (1 Cor. 16:12) when both Apollos and Paul could be at Corinth again so that together they could straighten out any lingering problems that might still exist in the church. Paul also took the opportunity to send the letter to Titus on Crete with Apollos and Zenus. They apparently were two itinerate preachers traveling from Corinth to an undisclosed destination, possibly Alexandria, via Crete.

  Conclusion

  What can we learn from the life of this lesser known apostle who was so eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures?

  First, Apollos took advantage of the place where he lived in order to develop his understanding of the Scriptures. Alexandria had a great library and he apparently used it. A person who is serious about studying the Scriptures should avail oneself to resources that are available, i.e. a church library, perhaps even a public library, or borrow books from an elder or friend’s library (but do return them when you are done!), or even build up ones personal library.

  Second, Apollos took 2 Tim. 2:15 to heart. He studied, studied, studied! Perhaps his studying paid off in a big way. Martin Luther conjectured that Apollos was the unnamed author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, of the epistle of Hebrews.

  Third, Apollos was open and teachable to the truths of the Word of God. As the hymn writer, Adelaide Pollard so eloquently composed:

  Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
  Thou art the Potter; I am the clay.
  Mould me and make me, after Thy will,
  While I am waiting, yielded and still.

  Fourth, Apollos made it his goal to use his gift of teaching the Word of God to build up the Body of Christ (cf. Eph. 4:11-13). The apostle Paul was an evangelist, so he planted the seeds. Apollos was a teacher, so he watered the seeds. Yet it was God who brought forth the fruit for His honor and glory. Each gift is needed for the work of the ministry. Every believer in the Lord Jesus has at least one spiritual gift (1 Cor. 12:4-11). These gifts are to be used to build up the Body of Christ. If you have trusted the Lord Jesus as your Savior, have you discovered your spiritual gift and are you using it to build up the Body of Christ?

  Fifth, Apollos had an apologetic ministry in which he used his knowledge of the Scriptures to defend historic / orthodox Christianity.

  Sixth, Apollos followed the NT pattern of missions when he traveled. He always went with at least one other believer for mutual encouragement as well as accountability.

  Bibliography

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

  Casson, Lionel
  2001 Libraries in the Ancient World. New Haven, CT: Yale University.

  D’Alton, Martina
  1993 The New York Obelisk or How Cleopatra’s Needle Came to New York and What Happened When It Got Here. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  Empereur, Jean-Yves
  1998 Alexandria Rediscovered. London: British Muesum.

  Feldman, Louis
  1960 The Orthodoxy of the Jews in Hellenistic Egypt. Jewish Social Studies 22: 215-237.

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

  Josephus
  1933 Jewish Antiquities. Books 12-14. Vol. 7. Translated by R. Marcus. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Loeb Classical Library.

  ______1965aJewish Antiquities. Books 18-19. Vol. 9. Translated by L. H. Feldman. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Loeb Classical Library. Reprinted 1981.

  ______1965bJewish Antiquities. Book 20. Vol. 10. Translated by L. H. Feldman. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Loeb Classical Library. Reprinted 1981.

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

  Levy, Brooks
  1982-83 Kaisar Epibaterios: A Seafarer’s Cult at Alexandria. Israel Numismatic Journal 6-7: 102-117.

  Strabo
  1986 The Geography of Strabo. Vol. 8. Translated by H. L. Jones. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Loeb Classical Library.

  Plutarch
  1919 Lives. Alexander. Vol. 7. Translated by B. Perrin. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Loeb Classical Library. Reprinted 1994.

  Philo
  1962Philo, the Embassy to Gaius. Vol. 10. Translated by F. H. Colson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Loeb Classical Library. Reprinted 1991.

  ______1993 The Works of Philo. Translated by C. D. Yonge. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

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

  Seekings, Herbert
  1914The Men of the Pauline Circle. London: Charles H. Kelly.
• 04Feb

  John Mark: Always Playing Second Fiddle

  Profiles in Missions Comments Off on John Mark: Always Playing Second Fiddle

  By Gordon Franz

  Introduction

  There is a little ditty that describes John Mark perfectly. It goes like this:

  “It takes more grace than I can tell
  To play the second fiddle well.”

  A statement attributed to the late Leonard Bernstein, the famous conductor of the New York Philharmonic, states: “The hardest instrument in the orchestra to play is second fiddle.”

  A fellow named Bo Bradham attended a fiddle camp in September of 1996 and wrote about that experience. The story is recounted of a fiddler from Texas named Randy Elmore who was at a “jam session” the first night of camp. Bo states that “[Randy] sat there quietly, and every time Mark [O’Conner, an accomplish fiddler in his own right] played a tune, Randy was right there with the second fiddle part. ‘Playing second fiddle’ has become synonymous with being out of the limelight, not the lead dog, … but you know and I know just how hard it is to do, and how uncommon it is for someone to be really good at it. Moreover, it speaks volumes about someone to volunteer for that difficult but unglamorous part.”¹ I was intrigued by Bo’s statement so I contacted Randy Elmore in order to get an understanding of what it means to play second fiddle.²

  I was fascinated to learn that the fiddle and the violin are the exact same instrument. The only difference between them, however, is the musician and the music being played on the instrument. For example, the instrument is called a violin when the musician plays classical music in an orchestra at Carnegie Hall. The same instrument is called a fiddle when the musician plays Bluegrass music or other “non-classical” music for events such as a square dance, or a ho-down, at the State Fair.

  The person playing first fiddle plays the melody. This is the tune that people know and the audience listens for at a concert. Mr. Elmore chuckled when he said that, in reality, the first fiddle is the boring part because the fiddler only plays the melody and should not deviate from it. The second fiddle, on the other hand, plays the harmony. Mr. Elmore thought this was the fun part because the fiddler could be creative with the harmony and do fancy finger work. This is the harder part because the fiddler must know how to harmonize the music as well as play higher notes as he moves his fingers up the throat of the fiddle. It takes much practice to play this part well. The purpose of the second fiddle is to play a supporting role and compliment the first fiddle, thus making the first fiddle look and sound good. The audience does not realize that the second fiddler is playing his heart out in order to make the first fiddler look good; yet the second fiddler does not get any credit for what is played. Thus, this part is unglamorous.

  John Mark seems to have been always played second fiddle (ah, Gospel bluegrass, of course! J). He played second fiddle for Peter, as a son in the faith and a disciple. He played second fiddle to Paul, as a helpful servant and later, a trusted confidant. He played second fiddle to Barnabas, his cousin and co-worker. He was good at this difficult but unglamorous task.

  I will meaningfully try to reconstruct the life of John Mark. He keeps popping up here and there in Scripture, so we will have to use some conjecture as well as rely upon two early church Fathers, Eusebius and Jerome, and the apocryphal book of The Acts of Barnabas which allegedly was written by John Mark.³ The apocryphal books should be used with caution, but could prove helpful.

  The Life and Ministry of John Mark

  First Mention

  Our first introduced to John Mark is in Acts 12. These events take place during the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Jerusalem (12:3) in the year AD 44. At that time Peter miraculously was released from prison and he went to the house of Miriam / Mary (12:12). Because there are a number of Miriams in the early Church, Luke has to distinguish which one he is referring to, so he identifies her as the mother of John Mark. Whether John is there or not, we are not told. He could be in Jerusalem because it is the Passover, a festival where all Jewish males were required to go on pilgrimage to the Holy City (Deut. 16:1-12). Luke also tells us that many were gathered in Miriam’s house to pray for Peter (Acts 12:12).

  In the English Bible his name is given as “John.” This was his Hebrew name and it would be translated “Yohanan” which means “grace”. His Latin name was “Marcus.” This may indicate that he was a Roman citizen. Paul wrote his latter epistles in the AD 60’s and calls him Mark (Col. 4:10; 2 Tim. 4:11; Philemon 24). Dr. Luke, also writing in the AD 60’s uses both names together three times (12:12, 25; 15:37), his Hebrew name alone, twice (13:5, 13), and his Latin name alone, only once (15:39).

  His Teen Years

  Alfred Edershim, in his monumental book, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, suggests that Jesus and His disciples had their last Passover meal together at the home of Miriam and her husband (1976: 484, 485). This is conjecture, but it is a very strong possibility. Mark later would record the instructions that Jesus gave Peter, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”‘” (Mark 14:14).

  The master of the house would be John Mark’s father. In Acts 12, it is called the house of Miriam. One could surmise that John Mark’s father had passed away sometime between AD 30 and AD 44, either by natural causes or part of the persecution of the church (Acts 8:1; 9:1, 3; 26:10; Gal. 1:13).

  If the conjecture of Jesus and His disciples meeting in the home of John Mark’s family is correct, what can we learn about John Mark’s upbringing? The description of the house that John Mark lived in that is recorded in the Gospels and the book of Acts indicates that it was a well-to-do house in the Upper City of Jerusalem.

  In the excavations in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem that were conducted after the Six Days War in 1967 several Herodian mansions were excavated by Prof. Nahman Avigad. These mansions were very impressive structures that attested to the wealth and high standard of living in Jerusalem up until the destruction of the city in AD 70 (Avigad 1980: 81-202).

  We are told that the house had an “upper room” (Mark 14:25 // Luke 22:12) At least one room was large enough to hold “many people” for a prayer meeting (Acts 12:12, 13). At one time the house had a male servant (Mark 14:13) as well as a female servant, Rhoda (Acts 12:14). John Mark, most likely, was raised in a well to do, financially secure family.

  John Mark also was surrounded with Christian influence in his teen years. He might have met Jesus as He came in for His last Passover with His disciples. After the Ascension of the Lord Jesus the disciples returned to the “upper room” for a prayer meeting (Acts 1:12-14). The house seems to be one of the places where the early church gathered in Jerusalem. When Peter miraculously was released from prison in Acts 12, he went to the prayer gathering at Miriam’s house. Rhoda recognized his voice. This seems to indicate that she knew him personally and that Peter was a frequent visitor to the house.

  John Mark, when he composed the gospel that bears his name, records the events that took place in Gethsemane. One event indicates that he was an eye-witness to what transpired on that Passover night and another event only he would have known about and recorded.

  After the Passover meal, Jesus and His disciples left the Upper Room and went to the Temple and then on to Gethsemane on the eastern slopes of the Kidron Valley. Judas led the Temple guards to the place where Jesus was, and they arrested Him. Mark writes that “one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear” (Mark 14:47). Mark does not identify who wielded the sword and cut off the ear because when he wrote the gospel, Peter was still very much alive and visiting Jerusalem.

  Anything Mark wrote could and would be used against Peter in a court of law, and Mark did not want to rat on his friend and mentor. It is only after the death of Peter that the Apostle John, another eye-witness to the event, identifies Peter as the one who cut of the deputy high priest’s ear (18:10, 11).

  In this passage, Mark does not use the generic word for ear, but a specific term for the earlobe. This indicates that John Mark was an eye-witness to this event and tells us specifically what happened in the garden. Benjamin Viviano discusses the significance of the cutting-off of the earlobe in this account (1989: 71-80).

  After Jesus was arrested and His disciples fled (Mark 14:43-50), Mark records, “Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked” (Mark 14:51, 52). Mark had not heard about this incident from Peter because he already had fled the scene. Only John Mark knew who the first, and only, “streeker” was in the Bible; it was himself!

  John Mark apparently went to bed after the family Passover meal, but when he heard Jesus and His disciples departing, his curiosity was raised. He threw a linen cloth around his body and followed at a distance. Later, he recounts his story.

  Exactly how old John Mark was at this Passover in AD 30, we are not told. All Mark records is “a certain young man,” probably anywhere between 16 and 19 years old. I will assume he was 18 years old for the calculations of the chronology of his life.

  Eusebius, the early church historian, quotes Papias⁴, an Apostolic Father writing about AD 140, as saying John Mark “had not heard the Lord, nor had he followed Him” (Ecclesiastical History 3:39:15; LCL 1: 297). He was too young to have traveled with Jesus and to hear His parables, sermons and discourses. Yet he was a curious onlooker in Gethsemane.

  As a teenager, John Mark had godly Jewish parents who were interested and involved in the ministry of the Lord Jesus. He knew the giants of the faith: Peter, the apostles, and his cousin from Cyprus, Barnabas (Col. 4:10). He saw godly people praying and saw prayers answered. These were good examples for him to see in his formative years.

  Peter, in his first epistle, calls John Mark, “my son” (5:13).⁵ This could be an indication that Peter was the one who had the privilege of sharing the gospel with him and leading him to put his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. John Mark knew the traumatic events that took place in Jerusalem during Passover of AD 30, but he may not have understood the significance of the events. Perhaps he heard Peter preach to the Jewish people in Jerusalem from the Land of Israel as well as the Diaspora on the day of Pentecost, and he was one of the three thousand that trusted the Lord Jesus as Savior (Acts 2:14-41). In this sermon, Peter, using the Hebrew Scriptures, demonstrates that the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus was the fulfillment of what the Hebrew prophets had predicted years before (1 Pet. 1: 10-12). He concluded that the death of the Lord Jesus was important because He paid for all sins so that John Mark and all who believed on (put their trust in) the Lord Jesus could have the remission of those sins.

  John Mark’s First Missionary Tour

  When I said first missionary tour you probably are thinking of Paul and Barnabas’ first missionary tour. Actually, John Mark had an earlier one. Jerome, the 4^th century AD Church Father, wrote an interesting book called The Lives of Illustrious Men. In this book, he gives a short biography of the Apostle Peter. He says: “After having been bishop of the church at Antioch and having preached to the Dispersion [the Jewish Diaspora] – the believers in circumcision, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia – pushed on to Rome in the second year of Claudius” (1994: 3: 361). The second year of Emperor Claudius was the year AD 42.

  Peter sends an epistle back to the churches which were established on this missionary journey as a follow-up letter. The letter was carried by the good services of his partner on that journey, Silvanus (1 Pet. 4:12). As mentioned before, he sends John Mark’s greeting along with the letter. The implication of this passage is that John Mark was along on this missionary journey as Peter and Silvanus’ disciple and helper. This tour probably lasted a year or two (AD 41-42). John Mark would have been about 29 or 30 years old at this time. He continued with Peter in Rome for a short period of time.

  Jerome goes on to say: “Mark the disciple and interpreter of Peter wrote a short gospel at the request of the brethren in Rome embodying what he had heard Peter tell” (Lives of Illustrious Men 8; 1994: 3: 364).

  Eusebius makes a similar statement. Again, quoting Papias, he writes, “Mark became Peter’s interpreter and wrote accurately all that he remembered, not, indeed, in order, of the things said or done by the Lord. For he had not heard the Lord, nor had he followed Him, but later on, as I said, followed Peter, who used to give teaching as necessity demanded but not making, as it were, an arrangement of the Lord’s oracles, so that Mark did nothing wrong in thus writing down single points as he remembered them. For to one thing he gave attention, to leave out nothing of what he had heard and to make no false statements in them” (Ecclesiastical History 3:39:15; LCL 1: 297). John Mark, at about the age of 30, wrote the first recorded life of the Lord Jesus as he heard from Peter. I’m sure on their missionary journey John Mark heard Peter recount the stories of Jesus over and over again to different audiences. By the end of the journey he knew them well, and the Holy Spirit directed him as he penned the Gospel of Mark (2 Tim. 3:16, 17; 2 Pet. 1:21).

  The early believers that composed the church in Rome were of Jewish heritage as well as proselytes (Acts 2:10). Since Peter was an apostle to those of the circumcision (Gal. 2:7-9), John Mark’s gospel would have a Jewish perspective and it presented the Lord Jesus as the Son of God (Mark 1:1).

  John Mark in Alexandria, Egypt

  The city of Alexandria in Egypt had the largest Jewish population outside Eretz Israel, the Land of Israel. Philo, a First Century AD Jewish philosopher, living in the city, said that the Jewish population of Egypt was about one million Jews and a large portion of them lived in Alexandria (Flaccus 43; 1993: 728).

  The New Testament says nothing about John Mark’s ministry in Egypt. Yet we have Jerome’s account of what happened after John Mark wrote his gospel. Jerome states: “So, taking the gospel which he himself composed, he went to Egypt and first preaching Christ at Alexandria he formed a church so admirable in doctrine and continence of living that he constrained all followers of Christ to his example. Philo most learned of the Jews seeing the first church at Alexandria still Jewish in a degree, wrote a book on their manner of life as something creditable to his nation telling how, as Luke says, the believers had all things in common at Jerusalem, so he recorded that he saw was done at Alexandria, under the learned Mark” (Lives of Illustrious Men 8; 1994: 3: 364).⁶

  While this passage is not inspired by the Holy Spirit, it is very instructive. Notice two things about the church in Alexandria. First, they were “admirable in doctrine”. John Mark made the teaching of the great doctrines of the Word of God a priority in the church in Alexandria. This was a principle that he had learned while he was in fellowship in the Jerusalem assembly. Acts 2:42 says, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” He also instructed the people in the Hebrew Bible as well as the epistle of James⁷, 1 Peter and the Gospel of Mark. He also taught them what he had learned from Peter and the other apostles in Jerusalem. The second thing that is mentioned about this church is that it had “continence of living,” apparently applying what they learned from the Scriptures to their own lives. Jerome goes on to records that the believers had “all things in common” (cf. Acts 2:44). John Mark had seen this modeled by the church in Jerusalem and he was able to instill this in the church in Alexandria (Acts 2:44; 4:32). Perhaps one example he used was his cousin Barnabas who sold all that he had and laid it at the feet of the apostles (Acts 4:36, 37; see also Lives of Illustrious Men 11 [Philo]; 1994: 3: 365).

  John Mark instructed the assembly in Alexandria and instilled in then the pattern of church polity and practice that he had seen modeled in the Jerusalem assembly.

  The final thing to notice about Jerome’s description of John Mark is that he was a “learned” man. He was a student of the Word of God and devoured all that Peter and the other apostles taught from the Word of God. John Mark’s initial ministry in Alexandria was from AD 42-44.

  John Mark apparently went up to Jerusalem for the Passover (recorded in Acts 12) which coincided with the beginning of the famine in AD 44 that lasted until AD 48 (Shea 1992: 2: 772). More than likely, John Mark brought with him grain and foodstuff from Egypt for the believers in Jerusalem. Interestingly, Egypt was the “breadbasket for Rome” noted for its grain and other foodstuffs.

  After Peter’s miraculous escape from prison toward the end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Luke records that he went to “another place” (Acts 12:17). Unfortunately Luke does not tell us where he went. He could have gone to Antioch-on-the-Orontes, or even back to Rome, where Peter describes himself as a “fellow elder” [not the first pope] among the elders in the church in Rome (1 Pet. 5:1).

  John Mark in Antioch on the Orontes

  Barnabas and Saul went up to Jerusalem at the beginning of the famine in AD 44 and brought relief from the Church in Antioch. When they finished delivering the money and goods, they returned to Antioch and brought John Mark with them (Acts 12:25). John Mark ministered in Antioch for three years (AD 44-47) in which time Barnabas and Paul had opportunities to observe what his strengths and spiritual gifts were. As they observed him, it would appear that he had the serving gift of helps (1 Cor. 12:28; Rom. 12:7; cf. 2 Tim. 4:11; 1 Pet. 4:10). John Mark was always ministering to and serving, other people and he did not care who got the credit for his labors. Other people were his priorities. He exercised his spiritual gift of helps in order to build up the local assembly in Antioch.

  William McRae, in his book The Dynamics of Spiritual Gifts, says that the person with the gift of helps “has the unusual capacity to serve faithfully behind the scenes, in practical ways, to assist in the work of the Lord and encourage and strengthen others spiritually” (1976: 47). He goes on to say, “A person with this gift will loathe the limelight but be the backbone of an effective church” (1976: 47). By exercising his spiritual gift, John Mark caught the eyes of Barnabas and Paul and this led him to a greater sphere of service.

  The Missionary Journey with Cousin Barney and Paul

  The Holy Spirit separated Barnabas and Saul to the work to which He had called them. After fasting and praying, the saints in Antioch laid hands on Barnabas, Paul and probably John Mark and sent them on their way in the year AD 47.

  Barnabas and Saul realized they would need help for this endeavor. They had seen John Mark engaged in the Lord’s work and exercising his serving gift of helps in the assembly in Antioch and thought he would be the ideal person to take along. At the age of 35, John Mark joined them on his second missionary journey.

  Dr. Luke described John Mark as an “assistant” (Acts 13:5). The Greek word is hupereten, which is translated “under rower”. Paul would use this same word in 1 Cor. 4:1 when he writes: “Let a man so consider us, as servants (hupereten) of Christ and stewards (oikonomous) of the mysteries of God.” Some have speculated that Luke was a ships doctor which would account for his uses of this and other nautical terms. The word picture is that of a large vessel, called a trireme vessel that plied the Aegean Sea. This kind of ship had three decks of oarsmen, or “under-rowers”. These were freedmen, not slaves, who had volunteered for this job. They were seated on the three decks underneath the main deck and could not see where they were going or what was going on around them. They were to “row by faith and not by sight” (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7). In order to do this, they had to trust the captain on the top deck to take them safely to their final destination. The captain had a drum at his side and the drummer would beat out the strokes. “Boom”, then they would take a stroke. “Boom”, then they would take another stroke. The only thing the under-rowers listened for was the beat of the captain’s drum and not that of any other ships around them. The word-picture is clear: John Mark was an under-rower, listening to the drumbeat of Barnabas and Saul and doing what they requested.

  Their first destination was the island of Cyprus and the harbor of Salamis that lies to the south-west of Seleucia, the harbor for Antioch. The first place the Word of God was preached was in the synagogues of Salamis (Acts 13:5).

  They went “through the island to Paphos” (13:6), the capital of the island, visiting the Jewish communities as well as relatives of Barnabas, and probably distant relatives of John Mark, preaching the gospel to both Jewish people and Gentiles on the island.

  The proconsul, Sergius Paulus, came to faith in the Lord Jesus (13:12) and most likely sent the three missionaries to Perge in Pamphylia so they could take the Via Sebaste to Pisidian Antioch, the home of some of the proconsul’s relatives. Sergius Paulus could not leave his administrative position in Paphos in order to share the gospel with his relatives; so he sent the three missionaries instead. At Perge, “John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem” (13:13).

  Scholars have had a field day trying to figure out why John Mark departed and returned to Jerusalem. Some have suggested he did not like the change of leadership because Paul had taken charge instead of John Mark’s cousin, Barnabas. So loyalty to his cousin was the issue. If one observes what happens after, Barnabas did not seem to have a problem with the change. Others have suggested that John Mark did not like the Gentile emphasis of the missionary journey. John Mark was a disciple of Peter, who was a missionary to the “circumcision” (Gal. 2:7-9). Others have suggested that John Mark returned to Jerusalem to take care of his mother (Cf. Matt. 10:37, 38; Luke 14:26). Perhaps Paul had the words of Jesus that John Mark had already penned in mind: “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time – houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Mark 10:29-31). I think an underlying reason might be that John Mark had “been there and done that.” If we accept Jerome’s implied statement that Peter visited Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia along with Silvanus / Silas between AD 41-42 and John Mark was with them, perhaps he had experienced (promised) persecution during the journey. This lack of courage to face more persecution led to unfaithfulness and John Mark’s departure from the journey. Whatever the reason, Paul was very upset with John Mark’s lack of faithfulness to the work of the Lord (Acts 15:37, 38). Paul would later write that faithfulness was mandatory for the Christian life in 1 Cor. 4:2. “Moreover it is required (demanded) in stewards (oikonomois) that one be found faithful” (cf. also Paul’s example, 1 Tim. 1: 12).

  Paul and Barnabas’ second Missionary Journey

  Paul and Barnabas spent at least two years in Galatia preaching the gospel and planting churches (Acts 13:14-14:25). Upon their return to Antioch-on-the-Orontes, they gave to the sending church a report on how God had answered their prayers for Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:26-28). Paul also writes an epistle back to the churches of Galatia (Gal. 1:2) because he was flabbergasted that they had departed from the truth of the gospel so quickly (Gal. 1:6), because some were saying circumcision was essential for salvation. The same issue arose in the church at Antioch and the leadership of the church sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem in order to consult with the apostles and elders on this matter (Acts 15:2-29). The Jerusalem council declared that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised in order to be saved and sent a letter back to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas stating this fact (Acts 15:30-35).

  Paul wanted to return to the churches in Cyprus and Galatia so he could follow-up on this divisive and heretical issue of circumcision for salvation. He suggested to Barnabas a second missionary journey. Barnabas thought it was a good idea and wanted to take John Mark with them.

  The text seems to imply that John Mark had left Jerusalem and was residing in Antioch again. We are not told when he returned to Antioch or what the circumstance was that brought him back to the city.

  There was a strong dispute between Paul and Barnabas over whether to take John Mark on this second missionary journey or not. In the end, they decided to go their separate ways and Barnabas and John Mark went to Cyprus, and Paul and Silas went to Galatia (Acts 15:36-41) in AD 49.

  A budding young musician, with his violin case under his arms, asked an elderly New Yorker how to get to Carnegie Hall. The gentleman looked at him and said, “Son, it’s very simple. Practice … practice … practice!”

  John Mark had at least one setback in his walk with the Lord. At one point in his life he had a problem with faithfulness to the Lord’s work. His mentor, Barnabas, always the encourager, worked with him in this area of his life while they were in Cyprus. The Apostle James had written, “But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only” (1:22). John Mark took that to heart and practiced, practiced, practiced faithfulness.

  Scripture is silent on the activities of John Mark for the next ten or eleven years. When Paul wrote his first epistle to the Corinthians (AD 56), he mentioned Barnabas and seemed to indicate that he was still alive and actively ministering the Word of God, but we are not told where he was or what he was doing.

  The Acts of Barnabas described Barnabas and John Mark’s ministry throughout the island of Cyprus and also Barnabas’ martyrdom and burial (Roberts and Donaldson 1994: 493-496). After, “John Mark” recounts the burial of Barnabas, the John Mark in the account returns to Alexandria in Egypt for a second time, along with several of the brethren from Cyprus in order to minister the Word of God in that city. Historically, this is plausible, but Scripture is silent; so it is uncertain.

  John Mark in Rome

  The next time we see John Mark in the Scriptures he is in Rome with the Apostle Paul who was under house arrest and awaiting trial before Nero in the years AD 60-62. John Mark was approaching the half-century mark for his age!

  Paul, writing an epistle to the church at Colosse, sent greetings from several brethren who are with him in Rome, including John Mark. He instructs the believers in Colosse to welcome John Mark if he comes by the city during his travels (Col. 4:10). John Mark apparently was planning a trip to Asia Minor, perhaps to help Timothy in the work in Ephesus, or continue to Alexandria again. Along with the letter to the church, Paul sends a personal letter to Philemon, the patron and possibly an elder in the church at Colosse. At the close of the letter he send greetings from Epaphras, (John) Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke (Philemon 24). One gets the impression that John Mark was known by the saints in Colosse and particularly Philemon. It is conjecture, but Peter, Silvanus and John Mark, could have visited Colosse on their missionary journey some 20 years before when they went through Asia (1 Pet. 1:1). This would account for John Mark’s greeting and their knowledge of him.

  Unfortunately the Scriptures do not recount the reconciliation between Paul and John Mark. Did John Mark approach the Apostle Paul and ask for forgiveness and admit he was unfaithful to the Lord’s work? We can only conjecture that Barnabas worked with John Mark on his faithfulness (1 Cor. 4:2) while they were ministering in Cyprus, and somehow Paul got word that John Mark was again faithful to the Lord’s work.

  Come to Rome

  Paul was released from house arrest after appearing before Nero and soon went on a fourth missionary journey. Early Church historians say he journeyed to Spain. Scripture tells us that he ministered on the island of Crete, and was in Macedonia and Asia Minor and well as Corinth and Nicopolis. He was re-arrested and landed in prison in Rome in AD 67. This time Nero was not as nice as the first time they met at Paul’s first defense (2 Tim. 4:16).

  Paul wrote to his son in the faith, Timothy, who was engaged in evangelistic work in Ephesus and tells him, “Get [John] Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11). At age 55, John Mark is still playing second fiddle!!! “The word ministry (diakonia) stresses not the office but the service rendered. Mark had demonstrated his power of organization and practical usefulness, so Paul felt that Mark was just the man he now needed in Rome” (Hiebert 1992: 78). Plus, he was still exercising his spiritual serving gift of helps. John Mark was modeling Biblical greatness. The one who is the greatest is the one who is the servant (diakonos).

  The Death of John Mark

  Jerome records that John Mark died in the 8^th year of Nero’s reign and was buried in Alexandria (Lives of Illustrious Men 8; 1994: 3: 364). The 8^th year of Nero’s reign was AD 62. This statement creates a seeming chronological problem. When Paul was released from house arrest, they would have gone their separate ways: Paul to Spain and Crete and John Mark to Asia Minor, possibly on his way to Alexandria, Egypt for a third time. John Mark would have died soon after their departure according to Jerome’s account. I find it hard to believe that Paul was not informed of the death of his friend, even while in Spain, Crete, Macedonia or Asia Minor. After Paul was rearrested he called for John Mark to come to Rome with Timothy, thus indicating that he was very much alive in AD 67. More than likely, Jerome did not accurately record the date of John Mark’s death.

  Applications

  What can we learn from the life and ministry of John Mark? There are at least six lessons we can learn from this true servant of the Servants of God.

  First, playing second fiddle may not be all that bad. In light of the Judgment Seat of Christ, it really does not make any difference who gets the credit for the work done in this life. You see, the Lord keeps the record books! In that day, our individual works are made manifest, even those things that somebody else got credit for even though we did it, those things that you did and nobody even saw you do, those things that were quietly done with no fanfare, they will be openly rewarded by the Lord (1 Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev. 22:12). What matters in this life is that the Lord Jesus gets the credit because what we accomplished for Him was done by His grace and through His strength (Eph. 6:10). A principle that Jesus set forth in the Sermon on the Mount applies in this situation. What is done in secret will be rewarded openly (Matt. 6:1-8, 16-18). Sometimes it may be in this life, but for sure it will be at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

  Second, John Mark modeled a servant’s heart. He always had people as his priority and was serving them. This was a lesson that he learned when he penned the words of Jesus in Mark 10: 42-45. “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and there great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant (diakonos). And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave (doulos) of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served (diakovathanai), but to serve (diakonasai), and to give His life a ransom for many.”

  When Paul was in prison for a second time, he called for John Mark because of his reputation of service / ministry (diakonia). John Mark was great in the eyes of God because of his servant’s heart. Do we have a servant’s heart, or are we living for ourselves?

  Third, never underestimate what a young person can learn spiritually. Someone once said, “Lessons are more caught, than taught.” John Mark had godly influence as a young person and saw the Lord working in the early church. He saw God answer prayer and people coming to faith in the Lord Jesus. He had parents who set a godly example of service for the Lord Jesus (Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:21), examples and lessons that he would use later in his ministry. Do young people, or children for that matter, see their parents on their knees praying for family and friends, the local assembly and a lost and dying world that needs to hear the gospel? Do they see them studying the Word of God and reading it in family gatherings? Do they see their parents involved in the local assembly, setting an example for the young people to follow? Our young people are the next generation to carry on the Lord’s work. What kind of example are we setting for them?

  Fourth, Jerome points out that John Mark was “learned” in the Scriptures. Are you listening carefully to the preacher / Bible teacher and studying the Word of God on your own?

  Fifth, John Mark was exercising his spiritual serving gift of “ministry / helps” and was using it to build up the Body of Christ, the Church (1 Cor. 14:12). Do you know what your spiritual gift is and are you using it to build up the Body of Christ? The list of spiritual gifts can be found in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Peter 4:10, 11.

  Sixth, none of us are immune to failure in the Christian life. It is important to note where John Marks’s lapse into unfaithfulness falls in the chronology of his life. He has already gone with Peter on a missionary journey, written the gospel of Mark, planted a church in Alexandria, and spent three years working with the Apostles Barnabas and Paul in the growing church at Antioch. He had been walking with the Lord for at least seventeen years and engaged in “full time” work for at least seven years. At the age of 35 he has a temporary lapse into unfaithfulness to the work of the Lord. What does John Mark do? He could have bagged the Christian life completely, but he does not. We are not told the details, but we can assume that John Mark confessed his sin (I John 1:9) of unfaithfulness to the Lord. Most likely his cousin, Barnabas, worked with him in this area of his life (Gal. 6:1). John Mark “practiced, practiced, practiced”, learned the lesson of faithfulness and went on for the Lord. Do we get discouraged when we fail and contemplate throwing in the towel and not make the effort to live the Christian life? Or, like John Mark, do we recognize our problem, confess it to the Lord, get help from a mature Christian and go on for the Lord?

  There is much to learn from this servant of the Servants of God who enjoyed playing second fiddle. He was good at this difficult, yet unglamorous task. Might we take these lessons to heart and apply them to our lives.

  Bibliography

  Avigad, Nahman
  1980Discovering Jerusalem. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

  Edersheim, Alfred
  1976 The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans. Fifth printing.

  Eusebius
  1980 Ecclesiastical History. Translated by K. Lake. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Loeb Classical Library.

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

  Jerome
  1994Lives of Illustrious Men. Pp. 349-402 in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 3, 2^nd series. Edited by P. Schaff and H. Wace. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

  McRae, William
  1876The Dynamics of Spiritual Gifts. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

  Philo
  1993 The Works of Philo. Translated by C. D. Yonge. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

  Roberts, Alexander, and Donaldson, James, eds.
  1994 The Acts of Barnabas. Pp. 355, 493-496 in Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 8. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson. Reprint of 1886 edition.

  Shea, William
  1992 Famine. Pp. 769-773 in Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 2. Edited by D. N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday.

  Viviano, Benjamin
  1989 The High Priest’s Servant’s Ear: Mark 14:47. Revue Biblique 96/1: 71-80.

  1 http://www.itc.virginia.edu/~flb3c/camp96.html

  2 Phone conversation on May 30, 2006. My thanks and appreciation to Mr. Elmore for taking the time to explain the second fiddle to me, the conversation was both interesting and very informative.

  3 “This book has more an air of truth about it than any of the others. There is not much extravagance in the details, and the geography is correct, showing that the writer knew Cyprus well. It seems to have been written at all events before 478, in which year the body of Barnabas is said to have been found in Cyprus” (Roberts and Donaldson 1994: 3: 355). There are, however, some internal problems with John Mark’s being the author of the Acts of Barnabas. First, in the Acts of Barnabas, John Mark claims to have been a servant of Cyrillas the high priest of Jupiter. The Book of Acts suggests he was of Jewish heritage and not involved in pagan worship. Second, in the Acts of Barnabas, John Mark is baptized by Paul, Barnabas and Silas in Iconium. More than likely John Mark was baptized in Jerusalem by Peter who led him to the Lord. There are other inconsistencies with the account in the Scriptures; so the Acts of Barnabas should be used with caution.

  4 “Papias, the pupil of John, bishop of Hierapolis in Asia” (Jerome, Lives of Illustrious Men 18; Schaff and Wace 1994: 3: 367).

  5 Jerome confirms that John Mark, the writer of the gospel that bears his name, is the same John Mark that Peter is referring to in this passage (Lives of Illustrious Men 8; 1994: 3: 364).

  6 John Mark is considered the patron saint of the Coptic Church in Egypt.

  7 I believe that the epistle of James was written by James the son of Zebedee soon after AD 30 as a follow-up letter to those from the Diaspora (James 1:1) who came to faith in the Lord Jesus on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41).
• 04Feb

  David, Goliath And Tabloid Archaelogy

  Cracked Pot Archaeology Comments Off on David, Goliath And Tabloid Archaelogy

  By Gordon Franz

  One day a friend sent me an invitation to a church meeting and asked me if I knew anything about the subject. On the flyer was a picture of a human skeleton with crooked teeth and a rock embedded in his forehead. The title above the skull read: “They’ve Found Goliath’s Skull!” Needless to say, that caught my attention.

  I read with great interest what was written on the flyer. It reported: “Diggers in Israel believe they’ve made a giant discovery. For they’re convinced they’ve come across Goliath’s skull! And what’s more, they say, the stone from David’s slingshot is still embedded in the forehead. Archaeologist Dr. Richard Martin says: ‘We found the skull in the Valley of Elah, in the foothills of the Judean Mountains, where David’s battle with Goliath took place. The skull is huge and clearly belongs to a man of enormous statue.’ Tests show that the skull is between 2,900 and 3,000 years old – about the right time for the biblical battle. Dr. Martin says: ‘This is the archaeological find of the year.’ Wrong, doc. If you’re correct, the skull could be the archaeological find of the century! Make no bones about it!” [The identity of the church and its pastor will remain hidden to save them some major embarrassment]. What was the source for these claims? At the bottom of the flyer it cited the “Jewish Telegraph/UK/11 June 93”. That sounded like a respectable publication from Great Britain.

  I wrote to one of my students in the UK and asked him if he could chase down a copy of this edition of the “Jewish Telegraph” for me (this was before the age when you could find anything and everything on the Internet). He was successful and it said basically the same thing that was on the church flyer. I did some more “digging around” and discovered the original source was an article by David Hudson in the May 25, 1993 edition of an American publication called “Weekly World News.” On one issue of the newspaper it boasted that they were “The World’s Only Reliable Newspaper.” In case you are unaware, the “Weekly World News” used to be a supermarket tabloid like the “The National Enquirer” and “The Sun” and was a very unreliable source of information (its last issue was August 2007). This is the publication that reported Elvis sightings and had articles such as “Hillary Clinton Adopts Alien Baby,” “Aliens Capture Top-Secret NASA Moon Base!” and “Garden of Eden Found.” (Folks, I’m not making this up … they did!). The latter article claims the Garden of Eden was in Colorado and even the original apple that Eve ate was found!

  The front page of the May 25^th edition had the same picture of the skull with the rock in the forehead as the flyer. The headline said: “Goliath’s Skull Found in Holy Land! Dramatic discovery proves the Bible story true!” As I read through the article, red flags and warning bells began to go off. I knew of most of the leading Israeli and American archaeologists working in Israel, but I had never heard of this “Dr. Martin.” I was living in Jerusalem in the spring of 1993 when the alleged discovery was made on March 23, 1993 and never heard about the supposed “news conference” in Jerusalem given by “Dr. Martin” when he and his associates announced this “discovery.” I was perplexed by the fact that Goliath’s skull was found in the Elah Valley when the Bible says David took his head up to Jerusalem, presumably as an act of intimidation against the Jebusites (I Sam. 17:54). I was suspicious about the “test” that showed the skull was 2,900 to 3,000 years old and wondered if it had been published, or would be published, in a scientific peer reviewed publication. It is safe to say, this whole story, both on the flyer and in the article, was fabricated. There is not a shred of evidence for any of these bogus claims.

  The most important lesson we can learn from this story is that we should do a thorough search in order to find out what the original source of a story was. In this case, the bogus story came from an unreliable tabloid. One should look for, and seriously consider, material that has been published in scientific peer reviewed publications. This so-called “skull of Goliath” was never published in any archaeological journal by “Dr. Martin.” This fabrication came from the fertile imagination of David Hudson and should not be used as proof that the Biblical account of the battle between David and Goliath is true.
• 04Feb

  Asher Shall Dip His Foot In Oil

  Cracked Pot Archaeology Comments Off on Asher Shall Dip His Foot In Oil

  By Gordon Franz

  Petrolium Oil Or Something Else?

  Everybody loves a treasure hunt! As a young boy, I liked adventures. On occasions, I would play “pirate” by taking a wooden cigar box and putting several rolls of pennies (a lot of money in those days for a boy my age) and other goodies and burying them in the backyard. Then I made a treasure map with various landmarks in the area and put an “X” on the spot where the treasure was buried. I would then proceed to rollup the map and put it in a bottle and seal it with a cork. The next morning I “found” the bottle “floating” in my backyard and set off to find the treasure. I will never forget the excitement of the discovery.

  Years later, while a graduate student in Israel, I worked on an excavation of the edge of the Hinnom Valley in Jerusalem. We were excavating caves from the period of the Judean Monarchy (Iron Age). On the first day we found some bronze bracelets that had corroded and turned green and some silver earrings that had turned gray. I asked the excavator, Gabriel Barkay, if it was possible to find gold. He answered in the affirmative. Since the silver and bronze were corroded, I asked Goby what gold would look like if I found it. He said, “Don’t worry, you’ll recognize it when you see it!” The next day, I remember carefully brushing away the dirt with a paintbrush to reveal a beautiful gold earring that was 2,600 years old and looked just like new. I still remember finding my first gold object as if it was yesterday.

  Today some Christian geologists and oilmen, encouraged by some prophecy teachers, are looking for greater treasures … oil … black gold, with the Bible as their “treasure map”! They are so convinced that Israel will soon be awash in fabulous oil wealth that they have invested millions of dollars of their own money as well as that of well-meaning Christians. Did the Creator leave a “treasure map” for modern geologists to find a huge deposit of oil under Israel? Would Israel then “bless” all nations by providing a steady flow of reliable oil to the world that is so dependent on OPEC? Or would the hungry bear, Russia, invade Israel to take the “spoil” (drop the “sp” and you have “oil”!, cf. Ezek. 38:13)? Does the Bible make such fantastic claims and should it be used as a magical divining rod for the discovery of black gold?

  Israel, like the rest of the industrialized world, is dependent on a steady flow of oil from reliable sources. After capturing the Sinai Peninsula in the Six Days War in June of 1967, Israeli petroleum explorers discovered and developed the Alma Oil Fields on the western side of the Sinai Peninsula. These fields provided Israel with a reliable source of oil. However, Israel “lost” the oil fields in the negotiations for peace with Egypt. Part of the Camp David Peace Accord, signed in Washington, DC in 1979, included the return of these oil fields to Egypt in exchange for compensation and a promise of the sale of oil to Israel. Israel not only gave up land, but also a steady supply of oil with the agreement. Today, Israel does not have a steady, reliable supply of oil.

  As of this writing (2004), there has been no major source of oil discovered in Israel. There are a few wells here and there that pump out small quantities of oil, but nothing like the Persian Gulf area. Several Christian oilmen have tried to discover a marketable amount of oil, but to no avail. Some, using the Bible as their treasure map and guide, have tried to get the faithful to invest in their oil operations. A number of years ago an expose appeared in the Wall Street Journal with the headlines, “Prophets and Profits Motivate Evangelicals Hunting for Israeli Oil” (Getschow 1985:1). The article describes some of the personalities and operations, and then goes on to list several states that have prohibited the sale of “penny stock” because of the suspect nature of these groups and their operations. At one prophecy conference a book by Rev. Jim Spillman entitled The Great Treasure Hunt (1981) outsold the Bible (Getschow 1985: 16). This article will analyze the verses used by the prophecy teachers to find petroleum oil. Are they really referring to petroleum oil, or is it something else?

  “… fruitful bough by a well” (Gen. 49:22)

  As the patriarch Jacob laid on his deathbed in Egypt, he set out to bless his twelve sons. The account begins with Jacob calling them together to tell them what will befall them “in the last days” (Gen. 49:1). Most prophecy teachers automatically assume the phrase “the last days” are the days we are living in now. Is that the case? The phrase is used 14 times in the Old Testament. The context must determine if it is used of a day still in the future, or of subsequent years from the prediction. A clear example of a future day is Isaiah 2:2 which describes a future day when Jerusalem will be exalted (Varner 1987: 24). The “blessings of Jacob” were fulfilled in the subsequent years in the history of Israel after they entered the Land of Israel and settled it.

  With regards to the blessing of Jacob, Spillman found several “cryptic” references in this passage. In verse 22, there is a “well” and in verse 25, “the Almighty … will bless you (with) … blessings of the deep that lies beneath.” He says the key to unlocking this cryptic message is an oilrig discovering oil deep in the ground (1981: 22-24). Is this speaking about an oil well in the Hill Country of Ephraim and Manasseh?

  Unfortunately sometimes the prophecy teachers, on their trips to Israel, are so caught up in the contemporary society that they overlook some of the culture that has gone on for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. An appreciation of this “time capsule” is overlooked, and an understanding that would come to the true meaning of the text.

  Would you join me for a short trip to a Palestinian home in the Hill Country of Samaria (West Bank)? In 1980, I worked in Jerusalem on the restoration of the pottery from a burial cave found by Joseph Free at ancient Dothan. It was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together without even seeing the picture! At the end of our time restoring pottery, the project supervisor, Dr. Robert Cooley, took his volunteers to visit Tel Dothan as well as have lunch at one of the ancient capital of Israel, Samaria. On the way home, we stopped at a village near Samaria to visit with relatives of the taxi driver. By western standards it was a “primitive” rural setting. The afternoon was hot and we appreciated the shade of the grape vine that spread out over the porch. I noticed the vine that was near a cistern so the family could water it on a regular basis. The blessing that Jacob bestowed upon Joseph was … WATER! The grape vine (Ps. 80) that was planted by a well of water will shoot its branches over the wall. The blessing from heaven is the rains that will come in their proper seasons when the people are obedient to the Word of God (Deut. 11:9-17). The waters will seep down into the rock and reach the water table and provide water from the deep, i.e. the well. Jacob’s father Isaac had blessed him with “the dew from heaven” to provide the essentials for life, i.e. grain, oil and wine (Gen. 27:28).

  The searcher has misinterpreted this so-called cryptic message.

  “… to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock” (Deut. 32:13)

  Spillman continues his search for petroleum oil with his “treasure map” in front of him when he turns to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 32 and the last part of verse 13: “he made him draw honey from the rock, and oil from the flinty rock.” He thinks it is absurd to understand the oil as olive oil because it came from crushed olives and honey could not be bee’s honey because it comes from beehives. According to him, the honey is “earth” honey, symbolic of petroleum (1981: 36,37). It is true that the word translated “draw” does have the idea of “suck” or “eating to satiety” (Cassuto 1971: 108). But to read, “pump” and find an oilrig is a bit far fetched.

  Prophecy teachers would do well to read the accounts of the 19^th-century explorers to the Holy Land. The visit by these men opened up a whole new realm of Biblical study. They wrote about their experiences and the Palestinian folklore and how these illustrated the Biblical passages and ways. Rev. William Thomson, an American missionary in the region from 1833 to 1879, traveled extensively and wrote a three-volume set, The Land and the Book, about his experiences.

  On one of his trips he observed a phenomenon that illustrated Deuteronomy 32:13. “In the clefts of a precipice overhanging Wady el Kurn swarms of bees made their home. The people of M’alia, several years ago, let a man down the face of the rock by ropes. He was entirely protected from the assaults of the bees, and extracted a large amount of honey; but was so dismayed by their number that he could not be induced to repeat the exploit. One is reminded by this incident of the expression concerning Israel in the farewell ode of Moses, Deut. 32:13: ‘He made him to suck honey out of the rock.’ And Asaph. In the eighty-first Psalm, thus sings: ‘With honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee'” (Thomson 1882: 2: 259). Unfortunately Rev. Thomson does not describe the extraction process, but it is clearly referring to honey produced by wild bees.

  When I was a freshman at Delaware Valley College of Science and Agriculture in Doylestown, PA, I had an interest in beekeeping so I joined the apiary society. At one time I asked the director of the society, a renowned beekeeper himself, if the beekeepers could “suck” honey out of the rock? His response was, “I strongly suspect that the term draw or suck simply means remove or extract. If the term ‘suck’ is accurate, there is no reason that the honey gatherers couldn’t have inserted hollow tubes into the honey combs and sucks honey into them” (Personal correspondence from Dr. Robert Berthold, August 31, 1994).

  Prof. F. S. Bodenheimer, a noted Israeli biologist, has stated: “In Israel of Biblical times wild honey hunting only was known, whereas at the same time real and extensive beekeeping was carried out in Egypt and Anatolia. In our country the first documents on beekeeping are found in the Mishnah tractate Ohaloth” (1959: 402). The writings of the Mishnah are much later than the Biblical period. The director of Neot Kedumim, the Biblical Gardens near Tel Aviv, Nogah Hareuveni, states: “Honey is mentioned several times in the Bible, but never is there an implication that it is a cultivated product. Apiculture developed many centuries later …” (1980: 12). The honey was public property and had to be gathered (Prov. 25:16; Judges 14:8,9; I Sam. 25,26). Spillman is wrong to two counts. First, the honey referred to is wild bee’s honey that does come from the rocks, and not petroleum. Second, the ancient Israelite farmer did not cultivate honey in beehives during the Biblical period.

  In order to determine what the oil is in verse 13, one must take a careful look at the context in which it appears. Note all of verses 13 and 14. “… he might eat the produce of the field; … honey … oil … curds … milk … lambs … rams … goats … wheat … wine.” It is obvious from the context that the oil has to be olive oil because it is something that one eats. One does not eat, or drink, petroleum oil!

  The flinty rock refers to the kind of soil that the olive trees grow in. Rev. Thomson again observed, “The substratum of this plain [near Beirut] is chalky marl, abounding in flint, and the sand is merely an intruder blown in from this desert on our left. The olive is found, also, in places where there is no rocky basis; but it is in soil such as this that the trees flourishes best, both in crevices of this flinty marl, and draws from thence its stores of the rock beneath. I am told the tree languishes, and its berries are small and sapless” (1882: 3: 34). An alternative view set forth by Dr. David Eitam, an Israeli archaeologist whose expertise is olive presses, suggests this might allude to the rock-cut olive presses (1979: 154). The landmark on the “treasure map” has been misread. The oil is olive oil, not petroleum oil.

  “Asher shall dip his foot in oil” (Deut. 33:24)

  Before Moses died, he blessed the children of Israel. Of Asher he said, “Asher is most blessed of sons; let him be favored by his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil. Your sandals shall be iron and bronze; as your days, so shall you strength be” (Deut. 33:24,25).

  This was the verse that set Andy Sorelle, a Texas oilman and co-owner of Energy Exploration, Inc., on a new search for oil in Israel. In 1979 a college friend of Sorelle sent him a map of the territories of the twelve tribes of Israel. As he recounts the event, “There’s a passage in Deuteronomy 33.24 where Moses, talking about the blessings of the twelve tribes, said Asher would dip his foot in oil. Well, on the map, the leg of Asher started in Lebanon; the heel of the foot was drawn at Haifa, and the toe at Caesarea. I suddenly realized that the only area we had not surveyed in Israel was that between Caesarea and Haifa” (Gafen 1981). On February 12, 1981, Sorelle began his first well in Israel on the Israeli naval base at Atlit. At 5,200 feet there was a small amount of oil evident but they continued to a deeper level. On December 1, 1981 they stopped their operation at 17,296 feet because the oilrig they were using could not go any deeper. It took almost a year to get a bigger rig in place; by the beginning of 1983 they commenced operations again. Due to problems, they had to stop again at 21,428 feet (Gaverluk and Lindsted 1984: 11,24). I’m sure Mr. Sorelle is very sincere in his belief that there is a large amount of marketable oil in the area, but is there a Biblical basis for his belief? Should Christians be investing in this, or other oil operations based on this verse of the Bible? Two issues need to be addressed. First, what is the oil that is being referred to? Second, are the oilrigs in the tribal territory of Asher?

  It is clear from the context that the oil in this passage is olive oil. The Hebrew word “shemen” is used 190 times in Scripture for “generally olive oil whether pure or prepared for various uses as perfume or ointment” (Austel 1980: 2: 937), and is never used for petroleum oil. Interestingly, the early rabbinic writings understand it to mean olive oil as well. In the tractate Menahoth on regulations concerning the meal offering in the Temple, the rabbis taught, “And let him dip his foot in oil: this refers to the territory of Asher which flowed with oil like a fountain” (Menahoth 85b). The context is talking about olive oil.

  The second issue is the location of the oil wells. Sorelle placed his well near the ancient Crusader fortress of Atlit. Others placed them on Mount Carmel. Are these oil wells in Asher’s territory? A careful study of the tribal-city list of Asher (Josh. 19:24-31) suggests otherwise. While it is true, a couple of Bible atlases place Asher’s territory down in the Sharon Plain, south of the Carmel range, most place the tribal territory north of Mount Carmel (Carta Bible Atlas [2002] maps 71 and 72; Zondervan NIV Atlas of the Bible [1989] pages 99 and 102; The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands [1985] map 49). A very careful analysis of the tribal list by Zvi Gal, the district archaeologist for Galilee, in whose jurisdiction “Asher” falls, has demonstrated that the southern border of Asher’s territory was the Kishon River just north of Mount Carmel (1992: 101-104; 1985: 115-127). Another careful and detail study of the tribal territory of Asher was done by Dr. Zecharia Kallai, a professor of Historical Geography of Eretz-Israel at Hebrew University (1986: 204-224, 427-433). Where Sorelle and others have put their oil wells have been in Manasseh’s tribal-territory, not in Asher’s!

  The context of Moses’ blessing to Asher is that there will be an abundance of olive oil in his territory. Has that been the case? Another 19^th-century explorer who visited the area of Asher, Canon Tristram, a missionary and a naturalist, recorded his impressions as he traveled over Rosh ha-Niqrah, or the “Ladder of Tyre” (on the northern border of Israel today), and viewed the Plain of Acco for the first time. He described it as “… a green cultivated plain many miles in extent, stubbed with olive groves, with their grey-blue hue spangling the carpet, and each grove half concealing a village” (Wilson 1980: 70).

  Two Presbyterian ministers from Scotland took a journey to the Holy Land in 1839. On one trip they recorded their impressions of an area two hours from Tyre: “… the summits, were sprinkled over with groves of olives, showing how fertile and how suitable for the cultivation of the olive this range must have been in former days. This was more remarkable, because we were now in the tribe of Asher; and the prophetic blessing pronounced upon Asher, was, ‘Let him dip his foot in oil'” (Bonar and McCheyne 1973: 265). How discerning these two students of the Scripture were!

  Only a few excavations have been conducted in the Israeli part of the tribal territory of Asher. The part in Southern Lebanon has not been touched at all, except the ancient city of Tyre. With a limited amount of excavations, archaeology could not shed light on the culture and agriculture of the day … until recently.

  Zvi Gal excavated a small fortress on a ridge on the slopes of Western Lower Galilee. This site, called Hurvat Rosh Zayit (Khirbet Ras el Zeitum in Arabic), is translated “the ruins of the head of the olives.” A discerning reader will notice that the name of the site has something to do with olives. It also lies less than a mile north of the Arab village of Kabul, which preserves the name for the site of Biblical Cabul (Josh. 19:27). When he excavated the site he discovered a small fortress, 80 feet by 80 feet with a wall preserved to the height of 10 feet, dating to the time of King Solomon. The mostly Phoenician pottery from the excavation dated from the late 10^th to mid-9^th century BC. This led the excavator to suggest that this was one of the twenty cities that Solomon gave to Hiram, king of Tyre. After examining the sites, Hiram did not like them and called the place “Cabul-land” (I Kings 9:10-14; Gal 1993a: 39). The most significant discovery for our study is three large olive presses. Gal states, “These settlers based their economy largely on the production of olive oil. A large complex of oil presses is now being excavated on the west side of the site. Within a well-built structure, we have found at least three presses, and another press outside the structure has been excavated and reconstructed. These presses, together with the many rock cut installations found on the surface around the area, make this the largest known oil-press complex in Galilee” (1993a: 84; 1993b: 128-140). This complex dated to the 8^th century BC and has Israelite features. It was destroyed by Tiglath-Pileser III in 733/32 BC (Gal 1990:91).

  I believe with further excavations in the region, more olive oil installations will be uncovered, thus confirming the truth of Moses’ blessing on Asher.

  The last part of Moses’ blessing says, “Your sandals shall be iron and bronze.” Spillman suggests that this is referring to oil derricks that are made of iron and brass to prevent sparks from igniting a fire on the rigs as iron on iron would (1981: 49). Sorelle said this verse did not make sense until recent times because he believes that “this area will be such a developed oil field that from a helicopter it will look like he is wearing shoes of iron and brass” (Webber n.d.: 21). There is a better understanding for this passage.

  To produce olive oil, there are three stages that must be gone through in order to get olive oil. First, the olives are crushed. Then, the olive pulp is pressed to express the liquid that is oil and watery lees, or impurities. Finally, the oil floats to the top and is separated from the impurities (Frankel 1994: 26). This process could, until recently, still be observed in some settings in one simple installation. The farmer would crush the olives with a stone, or treading them while wearing some kind of shoes (cf. Micah 6:15). The crushed olives were pressed with a stone and the liquids collected in a vat and the oil skimmed off after separating from the watery lees (Gal 1993b: 133). A better explanation for the “sandals of iron and brass” would be that these are the shoes used by the farmer to crush the olives. This was the method used by the ancient Israelite farmer before the large stone olive crushers came into use during the Iron Age in Israel (Gal 1993b: 135).

  It is interesting that Micah 6:15 mentions the “treading of olives.” One cannot tread, or crush, olives with bear feet. Quite possibly the shoes were of iron and/or brass. However, Oded Boronski says this phrase can “not be taken literally since this method is ineffective and the stones might cause harm to the feet of the treader.” The phrase should be “a poetic expression for oil pressing” (1987:119).

  However, Rafael Frankel, an expert on the olive oil industry in antiquity, has observed, “Despite the fact that olives were usually crushed by rolling stones over them on flat surfaces, a special Greek word … exists for the shoes which were worn while treading olives. It appears that olives were trodden in much the same way as grapes, except that the latter were trodden barefoot” (1994: 78).

  The blessing of Moses to Asher should be understood in light of its ancient Near Eastern context. Asher was literally blessed with an abundance of olive oil and he would crush the olives with special shoes made of iron and/or brass in order to allow the oil to run out. To imagine an oilrig in this passage and to get Christians to invest in “penny stock” is not a good interpretation of this passage.

  Jacob’s Blessing of Asher (Gen. 49:20)

  When Jacob blessed Asher he said, “Bread from Asher shall be rich, and he shall yield royal dainties” (Gen. 49:20). The Hebrew root for the word “rich” is “shemen” which is translated “oil or fatness”. Again, the hint is of olive oil. But Jacob goes on to say this food shall be for the royal tables. Has this ever happened? Do people eat or drink petroleum oil at their tables?

  Very little history was recorded in the Scriptures regarding the tribe of Asher. We do know that each tribe provided food for the royal court one month a year during the reign of King Solomon (I Kings 4:7, 16). I’m sure the people in the palace looked forward to the rich food from Asher. It must have been exquisite. Of course, olive oil is very healthy for a person as well.

  Another case where food from Asher landed on the royal tables was Hiran, king of Tyre. In exchange for cedars and cypress wood from the Lebanon Mountains, Solomon promised him food for his household (I Kings 5:9). This food included 20,000 kors of wheat and 20 kors of pressed oil each year (I Kings 5:11; II Chron. 2:10, 15). The closest tribal to Tyre with this kind of food was Asher.

  Just as Moses’ blessing on Asher was literally fulfilled, so Jacob’s blessing. The abundant food did end up on the table of royalty.

  The Conclusion of the Matter

  It has been demonstrated that the search for petroleum oil with the Bible as a treasure map or a magical divining rod is unwise and fruitless. The serious student of the Scriptures is to properly exegete the passage, i.e. take out from the passage that which is in the text, rather than reading into the text that which is not there, which is what these oilmen and prophecy teachers are doing. The prophecy teachers should heed the words of James, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing we shall receive a stricter judgment” (3:1). Bible teachers are responsible for properly interpreting the Scriptures and will be held accountable by the Lord for their teachings.

  The Holy Spirit has several tools at His disposal to help the Bible student properly interpret the Biblical text. We have noted at least four in this paper. First, there are good linguistic tools available that will help the student understand the proper meaning of the words. Invest in a good lexicon or Bible dictionary. Second, there are the 19^th century explorers who visited the Holy Land and wrote of their experiences. One should visit the local library and check out these books, they are fascinating reading. Third, one can glean insights into the Scriptures by visiting the contemporary Palestinian culture that still reflects the ancient ways of doing things. This gets harder and harder to find as the Palestinians improve their lot financially. And finally, there have been many archaeological discoveries that have added much light to the Biblical text and the material culture of the days of the Bible.

  The blessings of Jacob and Moses to Asher are referring to olive oil, not petroleum oil. When I was a field trip instructor at the Institute of Holy land Studies in Jerusalem, I always enjoyed the Sharon Plain field trip because we would end up at Mukrakah on Mount Carmel. This was the place where Elijah had the encounter with Ahab and the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18). As we journeyed the winding roads on Mount Carmel to Mukrakah we passed an abandoned oilrig. I would chuckle to myself because the rig was situated in a huge olive grove, probably owned by the local Druze. If only the oilmen had taken the time to look around them, they would have seen one of the essential blessings for daily life in ancient Israel, olive oil, not petroleum oil.

  On one field trip I pointed to the oilrig and expounded the Scriptures of Asher’s blessing and hammered the point that it was olive oil and the rig was in Manasseh’s territory. Later, while having lunch at Mukrakah, a student sheepishly came up to me and confessed that he had lost a lot of money investing in those “penny stocks”. He said, “I wish I knew then what you just related to us from the Scriptures. I would not have lost my money.” I encouraged him to continue searching the Scriptures just like the Bereans (Acts 17:11).

  Should Christians invest in oil exploration and operations in Israel? If the exploration is based on sound geological data, by all means. But if it were based on the imagination of some prophecy teacher who is not properly interpreting the Scriptures in their historical-grammatical, geographical and material context, it would be very unwise. The Christian should be discerning and invest his or her money elsewhere. After all, we are stewards of the money that the Lord has entrusted to us.

  Bibliography

  Aharoni, Y.; Avi-Yonah, M.; Rainey, A.; Safrai, Z.
  2002 The Carta Bible Atlas. Jerusalem: Carta. Fourth Edition.

  Austel, H.
  1980 “Shemen”. Pp. 937, 938 in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Vol. 2. R. Harris, G. Archer, and B. Waltke, eds. Chicago: Moody.

  Bodenheimer, F. S.
  1959 A Biologist in Israel. Jerusalem: Biological Studies.

  Bonar, A., and McCheyne, R.
  1973 Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews from the Church of Scotland in 1839. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publications.

  Boronski, O.
  1987Agriculture in Iron Age Israel. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.

  Cassuto, U.
  1971 The Goddess Anath. Jerusalem: Magnes.

  Eitam, D.
  1979 Olive Presses of the Israelite Period. Tel Aviv 6: 146-155.

  Frankel, R.
  1994 Ancient Oil Mills and Presses in the Land of Israel. Pp. 19-89 in History and Technology of Olive Oil in the Holy Land. R. Frankel, S. Avitsur and E. Ayalon, eds. Arlington, VA and Tel Aviv, Israel: Olearius Editions and Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv.

  Gal, Z.
  1985 Cabul, Jiphthah-El and the Boundry Between Asher and Zebulum in the Light of Archaeological Evidence. Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palastina-Vereins 101: 115-127.

  ______1990 Khirbet Ros Zayit – Biblical Cabul: A Historical-Geographical Case. Biblical Archaeologist 53/2: 88-97.

  ______1992 Lower Galilee During the Iron Age. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.

  ______1993aCabul, A Royal Gift Found. Biblical Archaeology Review 19/2: 38-44, 84.

  ______1993bAn Olive Oil Press Complex at Hurbat Ros Zayit (Ras ez Zetun) in Lower Galilee. Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palestina-Vereins 109: 128-140.

  Gaverluk, E. and Lindsted, R.
  1984Oil of Asher. Oklahoma city, OK: southwest Radio Church.

  Gefen, P.
  1981A Matter of Belief. Jerusalem Post. September 11, 1981.

  Getschow, G.
  1985 Prophets and Profits Motivate Evangelicals Hunting for Israeli Oil. Wall Street Journal. August 22, 1985. Pp. 1,16.

  Hareuveni, N.
  1979 Nature in Our Biblical Heritage. Kiryat Ono, Israel: Neot Kedumim.

  Kallai, Z.
  1986Historical Geography of the Bible. The Tribal Territories of Israel. Jerusalem: Magnes.

  Spillman, J.
  1979 The Great Treasure Hunt. Medford, OR: Omega.

  Thomson, W.
  1982 The Land and the Book. 3 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers.

  Varner, W.
  1987Jacob’s Dozen. Bellmawr, NJ: Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.

  Webber, D.
  n.d. Countdown for Israel. Oklahoma City, OK: Southwest Radio Church.

  Wilson, C.
  1980 Lebanon and the North. Jerusalem: Ariel. Reprint.
• 04Feb

  The Synagogue on the Island of Delos and the Epistle of James

  Archaeology and the Bible Comments Off on The Synagogue on the Island of Delos and the Epistle of James

  By Gordon Franz

  Introduction

  Sefar Ya’akov, written by Ya’akov Ben-Zavdai, was addressed to Messianic Jews residing in the Diaspora, outside of Eretz Yis-rael.   This small epistle, only five chapters long, has a distinct Jewish flavor based on the teachings of Yeshua ha-Mashiach.

  I believe that James, the son of Zebedee, wrote this epistle soon after AD 30, as a follow-up letter, in order to encourage Jewish believers in the Lord Jesus who had come to faith during the annual pilgrimage of Shavuot (Pentecost) in Jerusalem (Acts 2).

  In the First Century AD, there was a Jewish community living on the island of Delos.   This island, situated at the center of the Cyclades Islands, was famous in Greek mythology as the birthplace of the god Apollo and his sister, the goddess Artemis.

  This article will give a brief overview of the history of the island, and will discuss the Jewish and Samaritan communities that resided on the island, as well as the synagogue that was discovered during the archaeological excavations in 1912-13.   The setting of the epistle of James is a synagogue in the Diaspora.   I will use the Delos synagogue to illustrate several passages in the epistle.   Using our “sanctified imagination,” we will try to comprehend how a Jewish believer in the Lord Jesus on the island of Delos would understand the word-pictures in the epistle in light of the First Century AD history, geography, and material culture.   The archaeology of the islands of Delos and Rheneia, an island opposite Delos, will help to illustrate the word-pictures.   To conclude this study, I will discuss the implications for the dating of the epistle of James.

  A BRIEF GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY OF THE ISLAND OF DELOS

  Delos is a small island in the center of the Cyclades.   Pliny describes these islands as “lying round Delos in a circle which has given them their name”.   He goes on to state, “By far the most famous of the Cyclades and lying in the middle of them, Delos, celebrated for its temple of Apollo and for its commerce” ( Natural History 4.12:65; LCL 2: 165,167).

  If one climbs to the top of Mt. Cynthus on a clear day, the islands of Siros can be viewed to the west, Tinos to the north, Mykonos to the northeast, Paros and Naxos to the south.

  The island is 5 km long in a north-south direction.   At its widest, it is 1.3 km in an east-west direction.   The highest mountain is Mt. Cynthus which rises 112 meters above sea level.   From a spring on the side of the mountain, flowing for 1.2 km, is the River Inopus, that flows into the Bay of Scardanas.

  The first settlement on the island of Delos was discovered on Mt. Cynthus dating to the 3^rd millennium BC.   It did not seem to last long and the island was abandoned until the late Mycenaean period (1580-1200 BC) when the plain below the mountain was inhabited.

  It was colonized by the Ionians about 750 BC.   At this point in history, the island takes on its sacred status.   Homer’s Odyssey (Book 6, line 162; LCL 1: 233) and the Homeric Hymns, written about 700 BC, said that Delos was an important religious center.   It becomes important because, according to Greek mythology, the island of Delos offered Leto a place to safely give birth to Apollo and Artemis from the fury of Hera, the wife of Zeus ( To Delian Apollo LCL 325-337).

  Athenian influence was exerted over the island in the 6^th century BC.   They “purified” the island by removing all the burials from the area around the Temple of Apollo in 540 BC.

  The Persian Wars broke out about 490 BC.  An alliance of Greek city-states was formed, called the Delian League, against the Persians in 478/7 BC.   Delos became the center for this league and the treasury was kept on the island.

  In the winter of 426/5 BC the second “purification” of the island occurred.   This time all the burials from the island were removed and reburied in what the archaeologists call the “Purification Trench” on the island of Rheneia (Catling 1996:443).

  From 314-166 BC, Delos enjoyed a period of independence and prosperity.   The island began to develop as a commercial center with public and private banks.   There was extensive building activity and foreigners began to populate the island.

  In 166 BC the Romans gained control of the island.   They put Athens in charge of the island and made it a free port.   With economic prosperity came foreign influence.   Foreigners from Italy, Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia, Israel brought their cults with them and built temples and shrines to their gods.

  In 88 BC, Menophanes, an officer of Mithradates VI, “razed Delos itself to the ground”.   If one can believe the reports of Appian and Pausanias ( Description of Greece III:23.3-5; LCL 2:147), upwards to 20,000 people were killed on the island in this attack.   In 69 BC, the pirates of Athenodorus, sacked the island, and it never regained its glory.   It’s religious and commercial influenced waned.   As Strabo put it, “When the Romans again got the island, after the king withdrew to his homeland, it was desolate; and it has remained in an impoverished condition until the present time” ( Geography 10.5.4; LCL 5: 167).

  However, in 58 BC, the Roman Senate confirmed privileges on the people of Delos.   Throughout the First Century AD, there was a community on the island, and life went on under the control of the Athenians.

  In the second century AD, during the reign of Hadrian, the Athenians put the island up for sale, but there were no takers!   In fact, Pausanias states, “Delos, once the common market of Greece, has no Delian inhabitants, but only the men sent by the Athenians to guard the sanctuary” ( Description of Greece 33:2; LCL 4: 69).

  At the end of the 3^rd century AD, there was a small Christian community on the island.   Toward the end of the 7^th century AD the island becomes abandoned.

  For a detailed history of the island, see Laidlaw 1933.

  THE JEWISH AND SAMARITAN COMMUNITIES ON THE ISLAND OF DELOS

  Jewish and Samaritan communities on the island of Delos are well attested to in the contemporary literature as well as inscriptions discovered in the excavations on Delos and Rheneia.

  The first mention in the literature to a Jewish community on the island of Delos is in I Macc. 15:16-23.   This passage contained a letter from the Roman proconsul, Lucius Calpurnius Piso (140-139 BC).   It affirmed that the Jews were friends of Rome and the various kings should protect them.

  During the reign of Julius Caesar, two edicts were given that protected the rights of the Jews on the island of Delos, both are recorded by Josephus ( Antiq. 14: 213-216; LCL 8: 561-563 and 14: 231-232; LCL 8: 571-573).

  Two funerary stela of Jewish women who were murdered on Delos were found on the island of Rheneia.   Each stela contained a prayer for vengeance against the murderers (Deissmann 1995: 413-424).   Interestingly, the Greek form of “El Elyon” (“God, Most High”) is used on both inscriptions.   This name also appears on one inscription found in the synagogue.

  Recently, two Samaritan inscriptions were found 90 meters to the north of the synagogue building.   One read, “The Israelites on Delos who make offerings to hallowed Argarizein crown with a gold crown Sarapion, son of Jason, of Knossos, for his benefactions toward them” (Kraabel 1984: 44).   The second one said, “[the] Israelites [on Delos] who make offerings to hallowed, consecrated Argarizein …” (Kraabel 1984: 45).

  One can assume that both communities were engaged in the trade and commerce on the island.

  THE SYNAGOGUE ON THE ISLAND OF DELOS

  Excavations on the island of Delos began in 1873 and were conducted by the Greek Antiquities Service and the Ecole Francaise d’Archeologie at Athens.   The most intensive excavations were carried out between 1902 and 1914.   During the 1912-13 excavations, a synagogue building was discovered by the excavator, Andre Plassart.   The site was later re-excavated by Philippe Bruneau in 1962 and published by him in 1970 and 1982.

  The structure is located in a residential area in the northeast part of the island.   It consists of several rooms.   The main room, the hall of assembly, measures 16.9 meters north-south by 15.04 meters east-west, with a triportal entrance.   The assembly hall was divided into two rooms, probably after the War of Mithridates in 88 BC.   In the northern room, there are marble benches that line the wall.   In the center of the west wall is a kathedra (throne) with a footstool.   The entrance to a cistern is located In the southern room.

  Four inscriptions were found in the excavations.   Each contained the words, Theos Hypsistos (“God, the Most High”) or Hypsistos (“the Most High”).   The former is translated El Elyon in the LXX (cf. Gen. 14: 19,20,22; Goodenough 1957).   This name of God also appears on the “Vengeance Inscription” from the island of Rheneia.   One also contained the word proseuchai, sometimes translated “prayer halls” and could refer to a synagogue.

  The excavator concluded that the synagogue was in use from the First Century BC into the Second Century AD.   Recently, Monika Trumper published a comprehensive article advocating that this structure is the oldest original synagogue building in the Diaspora (2004).   She contents that there were five phases of occupation from the 2^nd century BC to the 2^nd century AD.   This, however, is not the final excavation report.

  The identification of this structure has been hotly debated.   The original excavator, Andre Passart, identified it as a Jewish house of worship (1913).   E. L. Sukenik, in his Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece, followed this identification (1934).   In 1935, Belle D. Mazur came out with a study, Studies of Jewry in Ancient Greece disputing this identification.   As a result of this study, Sukenik reversed his position on the structure (1949).   Edwin R. Goodenough, in his monumental work, Jewish Symbols of the Graeco-Roman Period (1965:2: 71-75) anaylized Mazur’s work and offered counter arguments.   However, he concluded that the structure “might almost certainly … be taken, without any protest, to be probably a synagogue” (2: 74).   So much for archaeological dogmatism!

  Hershel Shanks concluded that the structure was actually a temple to Zeus (1979: 43-45).   There have been other studies by L. Michael White (1987) and A. T. Kraabel that reaffirm the synagogue interpretation.   For the purpose of this paper, the synagogue interpretation will be accepted and followed.

  THE SETTING OF THE EPISTLE OF JAMES

  It is not the intent of this article to imply or suggest that the epistle of James reached the island of Delos, or that James had this synagogue in mind.   This synagogue is used only as an example of a First Century AD Diaspora synagogue to illustrate two passages in the epistle.   Nothing more is implied.   James was writing to Jewish believers in the Lord Jesus in the Diaspora (James 1:1).

  The setting of the epistle of James is a synagogue in the Diaspora.   The Diaspora is a technical Jewish term, in Greek, for the Jewish people living outside of the Land of Israel.   James 2:2-4 says, “For if there should come into your synagogue a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or, “Sit here at my footstool,’ have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” [2]

  The early church met in synagogues before there was the split between the Church and the Synagogue (Acts 26:11).   The Delos synagogue can illustrate James 2.   On the west wall of the assembly hall was a kathedra (throne) of white marble that has been identified as a “seat of Moses.”   This was the most prominent seat in the synagogue where the rabbi would teach the congregation the Torah.   Below his feet was a footstool.   When the rich man came in, he was given a “good place”, probably the seat next to the “seat of Moses” on the bench reserved for the elders.   On the other hand, the poor man was relegated to stand in the corner or sit at the footstool of the rabbi.

  The kathedra, or seat of Moses, illustrates the second passage.   James 3:1 says, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.”   The teacher of the Word of God, like the rabbis, scribes and Pharisees, would sit in the “seat of Moses” and expound the Scriptures.   James warns the teacher about living a life that is contrary to what he is teaching.   James still has the words of the Lord Jesus that he heard only a short while before ringing in his mind.   “The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat, therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works, for they say, and do not do” (Matt. 23:2,3).

  Most English Bibles translate the Greek word “synagogue” as either “assembly,” “congregation,” “meeting,” “place of worship,” or even “church”!   If we see the epistle of James in its Jewish Diaspora context it should be translated, as the New Jerusalem Bible translates it, “synagogue.”   For a full discussion and debate of the word “synagogue,” see Kee 1990; Oster 1993; Kee 1994.

  THE WORD PICTURES FROM THE EPISTLE OF JAMES

  Permit me to use my “sanctified imagination” for a moment.   Let’s assume that the epistle of James did reach the island of Delos and believers in the Lord Jesus read it.   How would they understand the word pictures used by James in the book?   They, like us, read the Bible in the context of the world in which the reader lives.   The believers on Delos would understand the epistle from the surroundings of their world.

  Perhaps the believers were meeting on the Lord’s Day in the synagogue of Delos when somebody came from the harbor carrying a copy of the epistle of James.   With great anticipation they began to read it.   “James, a servant ( doulos) of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:1a).   Delos had an earlier reputation as a great slave market.   Strabo describes the slave market of Delos in these terms: “… Delos, which could both admit and send away ten thousand slaves on the same day; whence arose the proverb, ‘Merchants, sail in, unload your ship, everything has been sold.’   The cause of this was the fact that the Romans, having become rich after the destruction of Carthage and Corinth, used many slaves” ( Geography 14.5.2; LCL 6:329).

  James goes on to say, “To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad” (1:1b).   The Jews who had come to faith were descendents of the tribe of Judah.   Also living on the island of Delos were Samaritans, those of the northern tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh.

  They continued to read, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.”   James wrote this epistle to encourage the people as they go through trials and testings in their walk with the Lord.   He recounts the words he heard the Lord Jesus say on the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:11,12).   He then writes about testings from without (1:2-12) and temptation from within (1:12-18).

  The believer who doubts the wisdom of God in testings is described as “a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind” (1:6).   James had in mind the eastern windstorms that he had experienced while fishing on the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 8:23-27 // Mark 4:35-41 // Luke 8:22-25 and Matt. 14:22-33 // Mark 6:45-52 // John 6:15-21).   The reader on Delos knew from experience the description of “holy Delos” given by Callimanchus.   “Surely all the Cyclades, most holy of the isles that lie in the sea. …Wind-swept and stern is she set in the sea, and, wave-beaten as she is, is fitter haunt for gulls than course for horses.   The sea, rolling greatly round her, casts off on her much spindrift of the Icarian water” ( Hymn to Delos 4; LCL 85).   One can experience the winds and the waves today on the ferry from Mykonos to Delos.

  When he describes temptation he uses a word from fishing terminology, “enticed” (1:14; Kent 1986:51).   James the son of Zebedee used this word from his own fishing profession.   The readers on Delos would understand this word picture from their personal experience as well.   Callimachus continues in his Hymn to Delos, describing Delos as a place where “sea-roaming fishermen have made her their home” ( To Delos 4; LCL 85).   In the excavations of Delos, a number of fish hooks and implements used for mending nets (cf. Mark 1:19) were discovered.   The term “entice” depicts a live bait, either a worm or fish on a hook to prompt the fish to bit it.   The fish is deceived and caught.   The temptation to sin is the same way.   It looks alluring (Heb. 11:25), but when partaken of, it leads to death (James 1:15).

  James gives an outline for the rest of the book in verse 19 (Hodges 1994: 15,16).   “Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”   James expands on the theme, “be swift to hear” in James 1:21-2:26.   The believer is not just to hear the Word of God, but is also to do it (1:22).   The second section, “be slow to speak” is expanded on in chapter 3.   The third section, “be slow to wrath” is expanded on in James 4:1-5:6.   The final section of the book gives the key for going through trials and temptation.   James says the believer is to have patience (waiting for the Lord’s return) and pray (5:7-20).

  The first section, “be swift to hear” is set in the synagogue, with its “seat of Moses” and footstool.   James admonishes the believers to be swift to hear the Word of God and apply it to ones life.   The setting of the synagogue has already been discussed.   However, within the context of the synagogue in James 2, James quotes the Hebrew Scriptures in verse 8 (cf. Lev. 19:18) and verse 11 (Ex. 19:13,14).   Passages that would be found in the Torah scrolls of the synagogue.   In his discourse on “faith and works” he says, “You believe that there is one God, you do well” (2:19).   The statement “one God” comes from the Shema (Deut. 6:4) that was recited in the synagogue as well as the Scriptures contained within the tefillin (Ex. 13:1-10; Deut. 6:4-9; Ex. 13:11-16).   Tefillin were used in the First Century as attested to by the ones discovered at Qumran (Yadin 1969:13).   James then gives two examples of people who expressed their faith before their fellow human beings by their works, Abraham and Rahab (2:21-25; cf. Matt. 5:16; Tit. 3:5,8).   He concludes this section with verse 26, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”   The Delians had an interesting custom concerning the dead.   Strabo describes Rheneia, the island opposite Delos, in these terms.   “Rheneia is a desert isle within four stadia from Delos, and there the Delians bury their dead; for it is unlawful to bury, or even burn, a corpse on Delos itself” ( Geography 10.5.5; LCL 5: 167).   Since Delos was a “holy” island, nobody could be born on the island for fear of infant mortality, nor die there.

  The theme of “slow to speak” is addressed in James 3.   James admonishes the teacher who would sit in the “seat of Moses” and expound the Scriptures.   James uses seven illustrations from the Sea of Galilee to describe the effect the tongue has on other people.   At least six of these would be clearly understood on Delos.

  The first illustration is the bit in the horses’ mouth that turns his body (3:2b,3).   On the walls of one of the houses was found a painting of a man riding a horse with the bit in the horses mouth.   The Delians would understand this because of the hippodrome on the island.   As previously mentioned, Callimachus mentions the course for horses.   Few archaeological remains of a hippodrome were discovered to the east of the sacred lake.

  The second illustration is that of a small rudder on a large ship (3:4).   James the son of Zebedee, being a fisherman, knew the power of the rudder to turn a ship in the wind.   The Delians understood the workings of the rudder from watching the ships maneuver as they came and went from this maritime trading center in the midst of the Aegean Sea.

  The third illustration is that of a forest fire (3:5,6).   James the son of Zebedee painted this word picture from the summer fires that were in the forests of Galilee and the Golan (cf. Amos 7:4; Joel 1:19,20; 2:3).

  The fourth illustration is of the animals (3:7).   The “creatures of the sea” would be understood by James as the fish in the Sea of Galilee.   The Delians would understand it as the sea creatures in the Aegean Sea.

  The fifth illustration is that of a spring (3:11,12).   James would have understood the contrast between the fresh water and bitter water from the time he spent at Tabgha, the fishing grounds for Capernaum.   There were seven springs there; some were bitter and some very sweet.   The island of Delos had only one source of fresh water, a spring on the side of Mt. Cynthos creating the Inopos River that flowed down to the salt water of the sea.

  The sixth illustration James uses is of fruit trees, figs, olives and grapes.   These trees were local to the Sea of Galilee as well as most of the Land of Israel.   Today, if one visits Delos, it appears to be devoid of fertile land.    The reason for that is twofold.   First, during the nineteenth century, the island was used a pastureland for the sheep from Mykonos.   Second, today it is an archaeological park under the auspices of the World Heritage Federation and farming in not permitted (Reger 1994:95).   There are a few fig trees scattered here and there, but in antiquity there were farms that engaged in agricultural activity (1994:127-145).   One can see vines on funerary monuments from Rhenea that would have reflected the earthly activities of the dead.   Callimachus also mentions olive trees on the island ( Hymn to Delos 4; LCL 105).

  In the final word-picture, James describes the “wisdom that is from above” as being “without hypocrisy” (3:17).   The word “hypocrisy” is a Greek theatric term for an actor that performs for the applause of the audience.   James was well aware of at least three theaters in the area of the Sea of Galilee.   From the northern shore of the Lake, one could see the Tiberias, Hippos and Gadara theaters.   The recipients of the letter on Delos knew the theatric term “hypocrisy” because of the theater on the island.   Also, a common motif of the period is painted masks on the walls and mosaics on the floors.   In a private house called the House of the Masks one can see such examples.

  The third section, “be slow to wrath,” begins in chapter 4.   James asks, “Where do wars and fights come from among you?”   The implication of that verse is that the believers were fighting in the church meeting.   Whenever I speak on this passage in a church I ask, tongue in cheek, “Christians don’t fight, do we?”   I usually hear snickering from the audience.   Of course we always justify our fighting and bickering by saying, “We fight in Christian love!”   James also states that some believers murder and covet (4:2).   A sword found in the excavations reminds us of potential weapons that could be used to carry out this gross and sinful deed.   A wall painting of two boxers fighting each other from one of the houses would illustrate the fighting.

  In this context as well, James says that some believers are adulterers and adulteresses (4:4).   Most commentaries say this is spiritual adultery, but in the context of the Greco-Roman world, it could be both physical as well as spiritual.   On the island of Delos, there were temples to a host of deities that would try to lure the believer away from the Lord Jesus Christ.   Some cults even used sexual immorality to attract people to it.   The most notable one on Delos would be the cult of Dionysos, the god of wine and merrymaking.   His shrine, called the Stoibadeion, was “a rectangular exedra which at both ends has a pillar which supported an oversize phallus, the symbol of Dionysos” (Zaphiropoulou 1993:32).   Dionysos was also discovered on mosaics in private houses on the island (1993:34-37).

  In the section on “slow to wrath”, James addresses the source of the problem, which is pride (4:6,10).   James goes on to describe the arrogant merchants as saying, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'” (4:13).   James reminds them that they don’t even know what tomorrow brings because life it like a vapor.   Most of the Jewish community on the island of Delos probably engaged in trade and commerce.   For the self-sufficient believer, this would strike home.

  After the tragedy of September 11, 2001, I was watching an interview with several New York firefighters.   One of them recalled the words of the chief chaplain of New York’s bravest, Mychal Judge, who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center.   He said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him what you are going to do tomorrow!”   This caught the essence of James 4:13-17.   In this passage, James describes the arrogant merchants who plan their buying and selling activities and anticipate a profit, yet they do not realize that life is like a vapor.   James admonishes them to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall do this or that” (4:15).   It is a humbling thought to realize Someone else holds our future!

  James goes on to address the rich in James 5:1-6.   During the Hellenistic period, Delos was a very wealthy island.   Several residential quarters of the city had very luxurious two and three story houses with beautiful mosaics and frescos on the walls.   There were farms on Delos that grew wheat and barley (Reger 1994:95-101).   James reflects the farmer / reaper who is being taken advantage of by the wealthy farm owner (5:4)

  In the final section of the book, James returns to the opening theme, trials and suffering (5:7-20).   He encourages the believers to have patience and look for the Lord’s return (5:7-12) and to be persistent in prayer (5:13-20).   In each of these sections, the believer on Delos has a decision to make, either to follow the Lord Jesus Christ or one of the deities on the island.

  In the first section, James encourages them to look for the Lord’s return and follow the example of the prophets.   Delos was famous as the birthplace of Apollo, the god of prophecy, poetry and music.   His temples stood in the center of the island.   An individual could go to his oracles to consult the future, but the believe in the Lord Jesus has a “more sure word of prophecy,” the Bible (II Pet. 1:19).   The prophetic Scriptures were given to encourage the believers to godly living, comfort in times of sorrow, and patience as the believer preservers through trials (I John 3:2,3; I Thess. 4:13-18; Rom. 8:18-30; Blackstone 1989: 181-183).

  James asks the question, “Is anyone among you sick?” (5:14).   Most of the people on the island would go to the Asclepion at the headlands of the Fourni Bay for healing (Zaphiropoulou 1993: 52).   James instructs the believers to “call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.   And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up” (5:14,15a).   The response of the believer would be different than the society around.

  THE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DATING OF THE EPISTLE OF JAMES

  The epistle of James was written by James the son of Zebedee (Bassett 1876), and not the half-brother of the Lord as most commentators suggest (Davids 1982: 2-7; Hiebert 1992: 24-32).   The view that James the son of Zebedee wrote the book is based on the internal content of the book and well as the word pictures.   Many of the statements in the epistle are based on the teachings of the Lord Jesus, primarily the Sermon on the Mount and parables given in Galilee.   James the son of Zebedee was an “ear witness” to these sayings.   Many of the word pictures that are used in the epistle are from the Sea of Galilee.   The authorship and date of the epistle will be discussed in greater length in another article.

  It is also believed that the epistle was written soon (one or two years) after Pentecost ( Shavuot) of AD 30 to encourage those believers in their new found faith in the Lord Jesus as they return to their family and friends in the Diaspora (Acts 2:8-11,41; James 1:1).   These early Hebrew-Christians (or Messianic Jews) met in the synagogue buildings until the break with their Jewish brethren (Acts 26:11).

  Archaeology and geography can add a third dimension to Biblical studies.   The black and white (and sometimes red!) letters on the pages of Scripture can be placed in a historical and geographical context that can be visualized.   The reader can say, “Now I see what the inspired writer is talking about.”   Just as the readers on Delos could “see” the word pictures used by James when they read the epistle, so we can as well.   Might we not just see the word pictures, but also apply them to our lives.   As James admonishes us, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (1:22).

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Bassett, Francis

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  Bruneau, Philippe

  1970       Recherches sur Les Cultes de Delos a L’Epoque Hellenistique et a L’Epoque Imperiale .   Paris: Editions E. de Boccard.

  1982       Les Israelites de Delos et la Juiverie Delienne.   Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique 106: 465-504.

  Catling, Richard

  1996       Delos .   Pp. 442-444 in The Oxford Classical Dictionary.   S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth, eds.   Oxford: Oxford University.

  Callimachus

  2000       Callimachus – Hymns and Epigrams, Lycophron, Aratus.   Translated by A. W. Mair and G. R. Mair.   Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.   Loeb Classical Library.

  Danker, Frederick

  1982       Benefactor: Epigraphic Study of a Graeco-Roman and New Testament Semantic Field .   St. Louis, MO: Clayton.

  Deissmann, Adolf

  1995       Light From the Ancient East .   Translated by L. Strachan.   Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.   Reprint of 1927 edition.

  Fine, Steve, ed.

  1996       Sacred Realm.   The Emergence of the Synagogue in the Ancient World .   New York: Oxford University and Yeshiva University.

  Goodenough, Edwin

  1957       The Bosporus Inscriptions to the Most High God.   Jewish Quarterly Review 47: 221-244.

  1965       Jewish Symbols of the Graeco-Roman Period.   13 vols.   New York: Pantheon.

  Hodges, Zane

  1994       The Epistle of James.   Proven Character Through Testing .   Irving, TX: Grace Evangelical Society.

  Homer

  1998    Odyssey.   Books 1-12.   Vol. 1.   Translated by A. T. Murray.   Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.   Loeb Classical Library.

  Homeric Hymns

  2000       Hesiod, Homeric Hymns Epic Cycle, Homerica .   Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White.   Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.   Loeb Classical Library.

  Josephus

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  Kee, Howard Clark

  1990       The Transformation of the Synagogue after 70 C.E.: Its Import for Early Christianity.   New Testament Studies 36: 1-24.

  1994       The Changing Meaning of Synagogue.   A Response to Richard Oster.   New Testament Studies 40: 281-283.

  Kent, Homer

  1986       Faith That Works.   Studies in the Epistle of James .   Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books.

  Kourtara, Vasso

  1995       Mykonos Delos .   Athens: Toubis.

  Kraabel, Alf Thomas

  1979    The Diaspora Synagogue: Archaeological and Epigraphical Evidence since Sukenik.   Pp. 477-510 in Aufstieg und Niedergang der Romischen Welt II.   Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter.   Pp. 95-126 in Ancient Synagogues.   D. Urman and P. Flesher, eds.   Leiden: E. J. Brill.

  1981       Social System of Six Diaspora Synagogues.   Pp. 79-121 in Ancient Synagogues.   The State of Research. J. Gutman, ed.   Chico, CA: Scholars.

  1983       The Roman Diaspora: Six Questionable Assumptions.   Journal of Jewish Studies 33/1-2: 445-464.   Pp. 1-20 in Diaspora Jews and Judaism.   J. Overman and R. MacLennan, eds.   Atlanta, GA: Scholars.

  1984        New Evidence of the Samaritan Diaspora has been Found on Delos.   Biblical Archaeologist 47: 44-46.

  1985    Synagoga Caeca: Systematic Distortion in Gentile Interpretations of Evidence for Judaism in the Early Christian Period.   Pp. 219-246 in “To see Ourselves as Others see Us:” Christians, Jews, “Others” in Late Antiquity.   J. Neusner and E. Frerichs, eds.   Chico, CA: Scholars.   Pp. 35-62 in Diaspora Jews and Judaism.   J. Overman and R. MacLennan, eds.   Atlanta, GA: Scholars.

  1991       Unity and Diversity among Diaspora Synagogues.   Pp. 21-33 in Diaspora Jews and Judaism.   J. Overman and R. MacLennan, eds.   Atlanta, GA: Scholars.

  Laidlaw, W. A.

  1933    A History of Delos.   Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

  Levine, Lee, ed.

  1981    Ancient Synagogues Revealed.   Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.

  Mazur, Bella

  1935    Studies on Jewry in Greece.   Athens: Hestia.

  Oster, Richard

  1993       Supposed Anachronism in Luke-Acts’ Use of Synagogue.   New Testament Studies 39: 178-208.

  Overman, J. Andrew

  1992       The Diaspora in the Modern Study of Ancient Judaism.   Pp. 63-78 in Diaspora Jews and Judaism.   J. Overman and R. MacLennan, eds.   Atlanta, GA: Scholars.

  Pausanias

  1993       Descriptions of Greece .   Books III-V.   Vol. 2.   Translated by W. H. S. Jones and H. A. Ormerod.   Cambridge, MA: Harvard university.   Loeb Classical Library.

  1995    Descriptionsof Greece.   Books VIII.22-X.   Vol. 4.   Translated by W. H. S. Jones.   Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.   Loeb Classical Library.

  Plassart, Andre

  1914       La Synagogue Juive de Delos.   Revue Biblique 11: 525-534.

  Pliny

  1989       Natural History .   Vol. 2.   Translated by H. Rackham.   Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.   Loeb Classical Library.

  Reger, G.

  1994       Regionalism and Change in the Economy of Independent Delos, 314-167 B.C.   Berkeley, CA: University of California.

  Renov, I.

  1975       The Seat of Moses.   The Synagogue: Studies in Origins, Archaeology and Architecture.   H. Orlinsky, ed.   New York: Ktav.

  Shanks, Hershel

  1979       Judaism in Stone.   The Archaeology of Ancient Synagogues .   New York: Harper and Row.

  Strabo

  1988       The Geography of Strabo .   Vol. 5.   Translated by H. L. Jones.   Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.   Loeb Classical Library.

  1989       The Geography of Strabo .   Vol. 6.   Translated by H. L. Jones.   Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.   Loeb Classical Library.

  Sukenik, E. L.

  1934       Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece .   London: Oxford University.

  1949       The Present State of Ancient Synagogue Studies.   Louis M. Rabinowitz Fund for the Exploration of Ancient Synagogues Bulletin I: 8-23.

  Trebilco, Paul

  1991       Jewish Communities in Asia Minor .   Cambridge: Cambridge University.

  Trumper, Monika

  2004       The Oldest Original Synagogue Building in the Diaspora.   The Delos Synagogue Reconsidered.   Hesperia 73: 513-598.

  Urman, Dan

  1995       The House of Assembly and the House of Study are they one and the same?   Pp. 232-255 in Ancient Synagogues, Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery.   D. Urman and P. Flesher, eds.   Leiden: E. J. Brill.

  White, L. Michael

  1987       The Delos Synagogue Revisited: Recent Fieldwork in the Graeco-Roman Diaspora.   Harvard Theological Review 80/2: 133-160.

  1990       Building God’s House in the Roman World .   Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University.

  Yadin, Yigael

  1969    Tefillin from Qumran.   Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.

  Zaphiropoulou, Photini

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  ben Zeev, Miriam Pucci

  1996       Who Wrote a Letter Concerning Delian Jews?   Revue Biblique 103/3: 237-243.

  ---

  1  This article is dedicated to my fellow travelers: Richard, Donna, Zion and Judy (June 4, 2002), Alan, Heather, John, Karin and Stephen (Oct. 26, 2002) who tromped all over the island of Delos with me and listened to my “crazy idea” on the epistle of James.

  [2] All Scripture quotes are from the NKJV.
• 04Feb

  Job in the Land of Uz

  Archaeology and the Bible Comments Off on Job in the Land of Uz

  By Gordon Franz

  The Book of Job, the oldest book in the Bible, has its historical-geographical setting in the Land of Uz. The book begins, “There was a man in the Land of Uz, whose name was Job; and the man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1 NKJV).

  THE LAND OF UZ

  Scholars are divided on the location of the Land of Uz. Some have suggested it was near Damascus; others, based on Lamentations 4:21, have placed it in the Land of Edom. Jeremiah wrote, “Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the Land of Uz!” The Edom location makes geographical sense in light of the Biblical statement of Jeremiah and the flora, fauna and material culture mentioned in the book.

  The ancient territory of Edom is located to the east and west of the Aravah, the Jordan Rift Valley that goes from the Dead Sa to the Red Sea, also known as the Gulf of Akaba or Eilat. On the west side of the Aravah, in Israel today, it goes from the Wilderness of Zin in the north to Eilat in the south. On the east side of the Aravah, in Jordan today, it goes from the Wadi Hasa (Brook Zered) in the north to Eilat in the south (Crew 2002: 2-10).

  THE OUTLINE OF JOB

  The book of Job is divided into three sections. Chapters 1 and 2 describe Satan’s diabolical attack on Job. All through this section, Job does not have a clue where his suffering is coming from. He does not see the “big picture” and understand that Satan is behind these attacks. Yet through it all, he could say, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD” (1:21). His dear wife, seeing the situation he was in says, “Do you hold to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (2:9). Bless her heart, she must have had the gift of encouragement!

  The second section is Job’s debate with his friends. As the old saying goes, “With friends like these, who needs enemies!” This goes from chapter 3-37. Job begins the debate by cursing the day he was born, but he does not curse God. The final section is God’s one-sided dialogue with Job in chapters 38-42. In this section, God asks Job a series of questions out of the whirlwind. He begins by asking, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (38:4). In other words, “Job, were you with me at the Creation?” The book ends with Job’s confessing his lack of knowledge, and he turns from his rebellious ways (42:1-6). The Lord restores double what Job has lost (42:7-17).

  THE THEME OF JOB

  Most commentators and preachers would say that suffering is the theme of the book. But a careful examination of the book seems to reveal a slightly different theme: that of lessons learned from suffering. The emphasis is on the lessons learned.

  The two key verses in the book are Job 13:15 and 37:23, 24. Job expresses his faith by saying, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him.” “As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is excellent in power, in judgment and abundant justice; He does not oppress. Therefore men fear Him; He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart.”

  CHRONOLOGICAL SETTING

  The Patriarch Job lived soon after the Noahic Flood. This fact is reflected in the book. Job recalls this event several times (Job 9:5-8; 12:14-16; 26:11-14; 28:9). Job also recalls the post-Flood period when the earth is dried up (Job 14:11, 12). His friend Eliphaz mentions it in his third discourse. He said, “Will you keep to the old way which wicked men have trod, who were cut down before their time, whose foundations were swept away by a flood? They said to God, ‘Depart from us! What can the Almighty do to them?'” (Job 22:15-17). The Lord reminds Job of the Flood as well. When the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, He asked Job if he was at the creation (Job 38:4-7). The interrogation began, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (38:4). God then asked Job if he was at the Flood in verses 8-11 (Morris 1988: 23-33).

  After Job’s encounter with Satan and the LORD he lived another 140 years (42:16). Job might have been close to 200 years old when he died. Job would have been a Neanderthal (Cuozzo ????). His age would put him in the period of the Patriarchs. Perhaps he was a contemporary of, or slightly before, Abraham who lived to be 175 years old (Gen. 25:7).

  At this point, we should raise the issue of the place of Job in the archaeological chronology. If we assume a Biblical date for the universal, worldwide Flood in Noah’s Day, with no gaps in the chronology, than the date for the flood would be 2459 BC (Whitcomb and Morris 1973: 478). If there are gaps in Genesis 11, then the Flood could be several hundred years before (Whitcomb and Morris 1973: 474-483). It is important to note, we are talking hundreds, not thousands or millions of years.

  If you look at the standard archaeology chronological tables the so-called “Prehistoric” period for human history is as followed: The Paleolithic period – 1 million down to 18,000 BC. The Mesolithic period – 18,000 to 8,300 BC. The Neolithic period – 8,300 to 4,500 BC. The Chalcolthic period – 4,500 to 3,300 BC. This is in obvious conflict with the Biblical chronology. This is where evangelical archaeologists need to “rethink early earth’s history.”

  Using round numbers for a moment, if the Flood is at approximately 2450 BC and Abraham is about 2000 BC, then one must take the archaeological chronology and compress 1 million years into 450 years! It will take an individual, or individuals, who will devote a lifetime (or at least a doctoral dissertation) to reading excavation reports, archaeological journals, paleontology journals and books on assorted subjects to rethink this chronology. One will have to define what the presuppositions of the evolutionary assumptions are in archaeology and remove the underpinning of those assumptions. Then, using a Biblical framework, harmonize the known archaeological and paleontological data with the Biblical record. Where exactly Job fits in the archaeological chronology, I do not know for sure.

  THE FLORA, FAUNA AND MATERIAL CULTURE OF THE LAND OF UZ

  The flora, fauna and material culture of the book of Job fits the Aravah / Wilderness. In his discourse on wisdom (Job 28), Job describes the mining operations in the Aravah region. “Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore. Man puts an end to darkness, and searches every recess for ore in the darkness and the shadow of death. He breaks open a shaft away from people; in places forgotten by feet. They hang far away from men, they swing to and fro” (28:1-4). While scholars debate the precise archaeological period of Job, the Timnah Copper mines just north of Eilat, did have small-scale mining activities during the Chalcolithic period (Rothenberg 1972: 24-64). It is interesting that the rock engravings from Chalcolithic Site 191 have ostriches on them, an animal mentioned several times in the book of Job (1972: 55, Fig. 14; cf. Job 30:29; 39:13-18).

  When I take the Tablot Seminary students to the Timnah Copper mines during their January “Biblelands” program, I always have the host of the program, Dr. Richard Rigsby, read Job 28 at the deepest mine. Dr. Rigsby was the one who translated Job in the New King James Bible.

  The most intensive exploitation of the Timnah Copper mines was during the Ramesside period by the Egyptians with Midianite help. There was also mining activities during the Roman period and Medieval Arab period.

  In his discourse on wisdom, Job also mentions coral. “No mention shall be made of coral or quartz, for the price of wisdom is above rubies (28:18).” Coral was found in the excavations at the Timnah Copper mines. They came from some of the most beautiful coral reefs in the world, the eastern branch of the Red Sea. The port of Eilat is famous for its snorkeling in the coral reefs. Unfortunately, the coral reefs in the Red Sea are dying off today because of pollution. It is obvious; man does not have wisdom!

  Elsewhere in the book, the (Red) sea with its sea serpents, fish of the sea, and ships are mentioned (Job 6:3; 7:12; 9:8, 26; 12:8; 26:12).

  A number of animals mentioned in Job are indigenous to this region, most of which can been seen in the Hai Bar (Yotvata) Biblical Wildlife Reserve (Clark 1981: 22-35). Avraham Yoffe founded this reserve in 1968 in order to preserve species that were indigenous to this region in antiquity. One of their goals is to breed species that are on the verge of extinction and then have a controlled release of various species back into their open, natural habitat (Clark 1981: 22-35).

  At Hai Bar, one can see the wild donkey and onager (Job 6:5; 11:12; 24:3, 5; 39:5-8). Mountain goats, also known as ibex are in the reserve (Job 39:1-4; Ps. 104:18). The deer, or gazelle (Job 39:1); the cobra and viper (20:14-16); jackal (30:29); ostrich (30:29; 39:13-18); hawk (39:26); eagle (9:26; 24:3; 39:27); stork (39:13) and locust (39:20) are in the reserve as well.

  In Job 38:39-39:30, God asks Job questions concerning the animal kingdom. Of the ibex He asks, “Do you know the time when the wild mountain goat bears young?” Interestingly, when Dr. Rigsby translated the book of Job for the NKJV, he had not had the privilege of visiting the Hai Bar Reserve. If he had the chance to retranslate Job, he would have changed “wild mountain goat” to “ibex”.

  One of my favorite animals in the Hai Bar is the oryx. This animal with its straight horns is classified in the antelope family. It is the Biblical re’em [Heb.] and has been identified by some scholars as the “unicorn” in the King James Bible (Clark 1984: 66-70). It has also been translated “wild ox” in some translations (Job 39:9-12; also mentioned in Num. 32:22; 24:8; Deut. 33:17; Ps. 22:21; 29:6; 92:10; Isa. 34:7). These animals also are depicted on the rock carvings of the Timnah Copper mines. There is also a relief found in Egypt with a side profile of this animal and it looks like it has only one horn! Interestingly, the Los Angeles Zoo presents this possibility on the plaque in front of the oryx pen.

  The Cloisters in upper Manhattan has the famous “Unicorn Tapestry.” Usually artists depict the unicorn as a horse with a single horn. Yet if one looks at the unicorn tapestry closely, the unicorn is depicted, not in the equine (horse) family, but rather the antelope family (Clark 1984: 68). Perhaps the oryx is the basis of the unicorn legends. People might have seen a side profile of the oryx from a distance and thought the animal only had one horn.

  The Lord asks Job some questions about this creature. “Will the re’em be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger? Can you bind the re’em in the farrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you? Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him? Will you trust him to bring home your grain, and gather it to your threshing floor?” (39:9-12).

  The oryx is a fascinating creature. It can live indefinitely without drinking water, but gets its water through the vegetation that it eats and the dew it licks off stones in the early morning hours. It hardly perspires and has a high concentration of urine and dry feces. It’s white hairs are hollow and create excellent insulation and acts like Styrofoam. Its only problem is man. When threatened, it will stand and fight. With the introduction of firearms, the oryx was hunted and is now on the verge of extinction. The Hai bar Reserve is breeding a herd for controlled release into the Maktesh Ramon.

  Another animal that has personality at the Hai Bar is the ostrich. The Lord says of the ostrich, “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s? For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and warms them in the dust; she forgets that a foot may crush them, or that a wild beast may break them. She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; her labor is in vain, without concern, because God deprived her of wisdom, and did not endow her with understanding. When she lifts herself on high, she scorns the horse and its rider” (39:13-18).

  The ostrich can weigh up to 150 kg and stand 2.5 meters high. They are birds, but flightless ones. Their wings are too small to allow the bird to fly. However, the wings are good for helping the bird make sudden stops and shape turns as they run at speeds up to 60 kph.

  The Lord contrasts the ostrich with the stork. The ostrich lays her eggs in the sand and has other eggs lying around. Some think as decoys for predators or food to nourish the newly hatched chicks. While the ostrich seemingly abandons her eggs, the stork guards them carefully. The stork has its nest high up and watches over the eggs and cares for the young after they are hatched. The Hebrews used the word hesed, usually translated “loving kindness”, as a characteristic of the Lord. He was lovingly loyal to His people, guarding them, watching over them, and nourishing them. The stork had been named chasidah. This afforded the Hebrew a vivid word picture of God’s character.

  The Lord says that He deprived the ostrich of wisdom and did not endow it with understanding. Arabs in the Middle East will call someone “stupid as an ostrich” as a sign of reproach. We in the West have a similar concept. A billboard was put up on a road near my house that had an ostrich sticking his head in the ground. The caption said: “Only a bird brain crosses without looking.”

  Two animals not in the Hai Bar are the Behemoth (Job 40:15-24) and the Leviathan (Job 41:1-34). Job describes the Behemoth, apparently a dinosaur of some sort, as moving his tail like a cedar. The indication is that he had a thick tail, something an elephant or hippopotamus does not have (40:17). He is found lying under lotus trees and willows, and in the reeds and marshes of the Jordan River (Job 40:21-23), probably just north of the Dead Sea near Jericho. Job knew the Leviathan, a marine dinosaur of some sort, from his travels to the Red Sea, known today as the Gulf of Eilat / Akaba (Job 41).

  Footprints of land dinosaurs have been discovered in Israel. In 1962 an Israeli found some three-pronged prints in the bedrock of his garden at Beit Zayit, a suburb of western Jerusalem (Avnimelech 1966). The area was exposed and more tracks uncovered. Most likely the dinosaurs that made these prints were the Struthiomimus and laid down toward the end of Noah’s Flood.

  A plant that is indigenous to the area is the broom tree ( rotem Heb.). The white broom is not an edible plant, but can be sold to earn bread (Job 30:1-4). The young men who scorned Job made embers from the root of the white broom to sell in the marketplace. What lowlier livelihood could there be in the eyes of a once wealthy Job than one that involves sitting by a fire night and day, black with soot and reeking with smoke?

  Yehuda Feliks (1981), a professor of Biblical and Talmudic Botany, gives a number of examples of plants mentioned in the book of Job and which are indigenous to the region of the Wilderness and Aravah.

  JOB’S SPIRITUAL LIFE

  What are we to learn from the life of Job? He was a blameless and upright man who feared the Lord (1:1). He would offer sacrifices for his children (1:5) and believed he needed a mediator between him and the Lord (9:33; 25:4; 33:23). Yet one of the most profound statements in the book of Job comes from his lips when he proclaims, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God. Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (19:25-27). Neanderthals had superior physical, cultural, technical and intellectual abilities (Cuozzo 1998). Because of evolutionary influences, I do not think we give the Patriarchs enough credit for knowing about the Lord Jesus Christ. Job knew about the Redeemer and the resurrection.

  In reality, the Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to Job’s problems. It was the death of the Lord Jesus on Calvary’s cross that put an end to sin, defeated Satan and conquered the grave so there could be a resurrection. Just as Job trusted the Lord through his difficult situation, so each and every individual needs to trust the Lord Jesus for his or her salvation. A person’s salvation is not dependant upon his or her good works, church membership or baptism. It is dependent solely upon faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone as the one who died and paid for all sins and rose again from the dead.

  When it comes to trials and testings in our lives, Dr. Henry Morris summarizes the message of the book of Job in this way: “God’s central message to Job, and to us, is not an explanation of why the righteous suffer, but rather a call to sound belief in creation and an emphasis on our stewardship over creation, under God. Afflictions that come our way can then be placed in proper context. We belong to Him, both by creation and by redemption, and He has the right to do with us whatever He will. We can trust Him, no matter what comes our way in this life, knowing that in the balances of eternity the Judge of all the earth will do right” (Morris 1988: 108, 109).

  James, the son of Zebedee, sets forth Job as an example of patience. He writes, “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. … My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord – that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful” (5:7a, 10, 11). Might we learn the lessons of Job as well.

  Bibliography

  Avnimelech, Moshe A.

  1966 Dinosaur Tracks in the Judean Hills. Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

  Clark, Bill

  1981 Animals of the Bible. Living Links to Antiquity. Biblical Archaeology Review 7/1: 22-35.

  1984 The Biblical Oryx – A New Name for an Ancient Animal. Biblical Archaeology Review 10/5: 66-70.

  Crew, Bruce

  2002 Did Edom’s Original Territories Extend West of ‘Wadi Arabah? Bible and Spade 15/1: 2-10.

  Cuozzo, Jack

  1998 Buried Alive. Green Forest, AR: Master Books.

  Feliks, Yehuda

  1981 Nature and Man in the Bible: Chapters in Biblical Ecology. London, New York: Soncino.

  Morris, Henry

  1988 The Remarkable Record of Job. Grand Rapids: Baker.

  Rothenberg, Beno

  1972 Timna. Valley of the Biblical Copper Mines. London: Thames and Hudson.

  Whitcomb, John; and Morris, Henry

  1973 The Genesis Flood. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed.
• 04Feb

  Remember, Archaeology is NOT a Treasure Hunt!

  Archaeology and the Bible Comments Off on Remember, Archaeology is NOT a Treasure Hunt!

  By Gordon Franz

  Introduction

  The headline of the Science Section of the New York Times for Tuesday, September 28, 2004 read, “Solving a Riddle Written in Silver.” I recognized the picture underneath the headline right away. It was a portion of a silver amulet that was discovered in Jerusalem in 1979. The article described the scholarly debate concerning the date assigned to the amulets by the excavator and his team in the latest issue of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. They claim that these two objects contain the two oldest Biblical text ever discovered to date. Unfortunately the BASOR article is very technical. It discusses the style of the letters and how this is used to date the amulets. This, however, is important to answer the critics who have suggested the amulets were not as old as the excavator claims they were. This article will not deal with the technical aspects of the debate, as important as they are, but rather, I would like to take you behind the scenes and share some of the human interest stories relating to the discovery, unrolling, announcement and publication of these two amulets.

  Monday morning, July 30, 1979 is as clear in my mind as if it were yesterday. It was about 6 AM when I arrived at the excavations below the St. Andrew’s Scottish Presbyterian Church, a site that would later be known as Ketef Hinnom, “the shoulder of Hinnom”.

  The director of the excavation, Gabriel Barkay, known to his students and friends as Goby, asked me, “Gordon, how energetic are you?” I replied, smiling, “As energetic as a 25 year old person could be.” “Good,” he said, “I want you to clean out that cave over there with three junior high Israeli students.” I was up to the challenge. As I headed for the cave, Goby confided, “By the way, the cave might be loaded. But remember, archaeology is NOT a treasure hunt.” Thus began one of the most interesting weeks of my life.

  This was one of the first archaeological excavations I ever worked on and now I was an area supervisor of three junior high Israeli students. I was about to receive a crash course with on the job training in Methodology of Archaeological Excavations 101, also known as, how to excavate a burial cave when you don’t know what you are doing. Fortunately, I was a quick learner and Goby was a great teacher.

  The Burial Cave

  The repository, the place where the bones and any burial gifts for the dead were deposited after the flesh had decayed, measured 3.69 meters long, by 2 meters wide. The ceiling stood 2.23 meters from the floor. The ceiling had collapsed which suggested to Goby that there might be a sealed layer underneath with archaeological artifacts.

  As we began to work, I realized three problems. First, there was a lack of light. We were dependent upon the sunlight or its reflection that came through the 51 cm by 61 cm door of the repository that stood about a meter an a half above us. Once our eyes adjusted to the darker cave we could see fairly well. Second, there was a communication problem. I did not speak any Hebrew and the Israelis did not speak any English. Third, the three junior high students were just that, junior high students.

  Goby gave them instructions in Hebrew to clean around any objects they found and leave them in situ so they could be measured, described, drawn and photographed in their original location. Do you think these junior highers listened to Goby or me? At first they would dig little pits until they found something and then hold it up and say, “Tireh ma matzati!” (Translation: “Look what I found!”). Frustration was setting in very quickly.

  Goby instructed me to divide the cave into six quadrants and excavate one or two at a time. I put a string across the top of the ceiling of the repository and leveled it with a line level. This was our datum line. Using tape measures and a plumb line, I was able to draw an outline of the cave, then plot and draw many of the pieces that were uncovered. This was a learning experience for me. Goby stressed the importance of measuring all the objects from their lowest point. I am glad I listened to him because years later, it would prove very important in the dating of the amulets.

  During one of our breaks the first morning, Goby said to me, “Gordon, I want you to find me an inscription. If you do, I’ll give you a party.” I laughed because I knew from his Archaeology of Jerusalem classes that inscriptions in Jerusalem are very rare. Nevertheless, I half jokingly said, “I’ll find you an inscription on the last day and in the last square.” Little did I know how prophetic that statement would be.

  By Tuesday afternoon we had realized just how important this cave was, so we replaced the junior high students with adults from the Institute for Holy Land Studies across the valley on Mt. Zion. Late in the afternoon we had run out of boxes and bags to put our “special finds” in, so Goby and I went shopping for these items. We could not get these items from the Department of Antiquities because they were temporarily closed due to a police investigation.

  We had already found bronze and silver objects that had corroded. I asked Goby if there was a chance of finding any gold objects. He answered in the affirmative and mentioned that a burial cave in the Silwan Necropolis across from the City of David had an inscription that mentioned there was no silver or gold buried in the cave and concluded with a curse on anyone who opened it (Avigad 1953: 143). I did not like that last line. Seeing the corroded objects that we had found, I asked Goby what gold would look like when it was uncovered. He said, “Don’t worry, you’ll recognize it when you see it.” How true that was, the next day I found a gold earring that looked like it was made the day before.

  We were afraid that if certain elements in the population from the nearby neighborhoods found out about the jewelry objects they would visit the site at night and clean the place out. Since the site was out in the open and people were coming and going, we had to speak in code. Silver objects were called “gray matter,” gold was “lemon,” coins were “buttons,” and bones were called “Napoleons” (as in Bone-apart).

  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were normal eight-hour days, but time was of the essence. Thursday we worked from 5:30 in the morning until 5:30 at night, 12 hours. Friday we worked from 5:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night, 16 hours. While Goby and I were sifting in the late afternoon, two individuals with black hats and black coats were walking down the Hebron road on their way to the Western Wall for Shabbat prayers. They saw us and we saw them. Goby remarked to me with a serious tone in his voice, “We have to finish tomorrow because if we don’t they will be back Sunday morning with their friends to protest our excavations.” Thanks to Rev. Tom Houston, the pastor of St. Andrews, we were able to use an electrical outlet above the cave. Jim Monson, a professor at the Institute of Holy Land Studies, provided a light bulb and electrical cord so we were able to work into the night.

  Saturday morning, August 4, we began work at 6 AM with the help of students and staff of the Institute. We divided into two groups with one excavating inside the cave, and the other outside sifting for the small finds that might have been missed by those in the cave. I was running between the two groups recording and drawing the objects. Earl Hagar was photographing the finds as they were uncovered.

  About mid morning, Judy Hadley, an archaeology student at Wheaton College (now a professor at Villanova University) brushed aside some dirt to reveal a rolled up piece of silver. I described it in my journal as a “silver roll” and recorded it as object 31 from Area D, located at a level of 188 cm and then drew it on my plan. It was given basket number 481. Later, it would be called Ketef Hinnom amulet I. Goby suspected it might have an inscription on it, but it first had to be cleaned and unrolled and that would take time. We finished cleaning out the dirt from the cave at 1 AM Sunday morning. It had been a 19-hour marathon day!

  Sunday and Monday we continued sifting the material that was excavated after dark on Saturday. Sifting is best done in daylight so we took the dirt from each quadrant and placed them in labeled buckets, boxes, trays or whatever containers we could find so the dirt could be sifted in daylight. A second silver roll came up in the sifting during one of the afternoons. It would become known as Ketef Hinnom amulet II.

  Monday, in one of the last buckets to be sifted, a seal was discovered. Using his son’s Play-doh, Goby made an impression of the seal and it revealed the name “Paltah”. Unbeknownst to us, this was only the first inscription.

  A summary of the excavation has been published in preliminary form, but not a final excavation report (Franz 1986; Barkay 1994).

  Opening the Scrolls

  The two silver amulets were given an initial cleaning at the labs of Tel Aviv University. Museums in England and Germany were given the opportunity to unroll the objects, but declined because they were afraid of damaging the fragile objects. Three years after their discovery, the delicate job of opening them was finally entrusted to Joseph “Dodo” Shenhav of the Israel Museum. Under his able direction, the amulets were successfully unrolled during the fall of 1982 (Rasovsky, Bigelajzen and Shenhav 1992: 192-194).

  On one Friday morning, Dr. Yaakov Meshorer, the curator of the numismatics section of the Israel Museum, looked at one of the amulets under a microscope. He recognized the paleo-Hebrew writing. He tried to call Goby but because Goby had just moved he did not have a phone in his apartment. Yaakov left a message with Goby’s wife saying “Urgent, call Yaakov.” In Israel, when somebody gets a message like that it usually means that someone died and the funeral is that day. When Goby finally got the message he quickly called Dr. Meshorer who conveyed the good news about the writing on one of the amulets. Unfortunately for Goby, it was Friday afternoon and the museum labs would be closed until Sunday morning, so he had to wait until then to view the inscription.

  That Friday night I took some students from the Institute to their homes after Shabbat dinner and vespers. Since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to stop by Goby’s new apartment to see his succa (booth made of branches for the Jewish holiday Succoth) that his family had on their porch. He said with excitement in his voice, “Gordon, I have good news for you. One of the scrolls was opened and it has the word yod – hey – vav – hey on it.” My Hebrew still wasn’t that good, but I recognized the spelling right away. It was the name of the Lord, YHWH. This was the first time the Lord’s name was found in an archaeological context in Jerusalem.

  Goby entrusted the drawing of the two scrolls to one of his graduate students from the Institute, Bill J. Wilson. He would take the scrolls from my room, because I had them under lock and key, to the Israel Museum in order to draw each and every line he could see using an electronic microscope, the best in Israel at the time. It was a painstaking job, but Bill did an outstanding job of recovering and drawing 90% of the inscription but it still did not make sense.

  The First Public Announcement

  The first public announcement of this discovery was on Sunday afternoon, January 9, 1983, at a public lecture at the Rockefeller Museum sponsored by the Albright Institute and Hebrew Union College. These lectures usually last from three until four in the afternoon. As it turned out, this lecture was hosted and moderated by Professor Avraham Biran, the doyen of Israeli archaeology. There was a bit of irony in this setup. Avraham Biran is notorious for going over his allotted time when he presents a paper at professional meetings. Of course, no moderator would have the heart to stop an enthusiastic Dr. Biran in the middle of an exciting presentation, much to the consternation of the presenter that follows him! On the other hand, when he is moderating a session, he is famous for stopping a presenter in mid sentence if the person went over his or her allotted time.

  Before the lecture to a packed auditorium, Goby told Dr. Biran about the two amulets and he would announce the discovery that afternoon. When he was introduced, Dr. Biran told the audience that Goby had an important discovery to announce.

  The lecture started promptly on time (vintage Biran). Bill Wilson and I were sitting in the second row, right behind Dr. Biran. We were amused to see him sitting on the edge of his seat with excitement as each slide was put up on the screen showing a different discovery. Goby started his lecture with the topography of the site, then he talked about the Byzantine church and monastic complex. He moved on to the Roman burials and finally the Iron Age burial caves. I looked at my watch and it was five minutes to four and Goby had not started to talk about Cave 25. I thought to myself, “Biran is going to yank Goby off the stage even before he has time to reveal the amulets.” At 4 PM Goby finally got around to talking about Cave 25 and proceeded to talk about each discovery in the cave for another 15 minutes. Finally, the last five minutes he dropped the “bombshell” about the amulets and the Name of the Lord appearing in an archaeological excavation in Jerusalem for the first time. With that, Goby finished and the audience broke out in a thunderous applause. Avraham Biran was beside himself with excitement and publicly congratulated Goby on his “sensational” discovery.

  After Goby talked with his colleagues and friends, I had a chance to speak with him. I said, “Goby, knowing Biran’s habit of cutting people off in mid sentence, did you deliberately go overtime?” He gave me a devilish grin and said, “Yes.” To this day, Goby is the only person known to have gone overtime during a session moderated by Professor Biran and gotten away with it.

  The Oldest Biblical Texts

  In 1986, the Israel Museum wanted to have a “display of the month” devoted to the excavations at Ketef Hinnom. In preparation for the exhibit, Adi Yardeni of the Israel Museum redrew the amulets. One morning she had a chance conversation with a religious colleague at the museum. She mentioned she was drawing a text with the name of the LORD written three times on it. He replied, “Three times? Maybe it’s the priestly blessing.” When Yardeni returned to her work, she tried to read the passage of Numbers 6:24-26 into the inscription. Much to her amazement, it worked. Thus, the first Biblical inscription from the First Temple period was deciphered (Rabinovich 1986: 16, 17).

  When the exhibition opened at the Israel Museum in June of 1986, the announcement of the two oldest Biblical texts was made. The next day it was in every newspaper in America.

  On Saturday, June 21, 1986, I was attending a church picnic in New Jersey. One of the elderly gentleman from church asked if I had heard about an important Biblical discovery in Israel. I asked him questions about it, but he was vague on the details. He just remembered it was the oldest Biblical text ever discovered. He promised to bring the article from the paper to church the next day.

  The next day he showed me the article. I got the shock of my life. As I was reading the article I began to realize, “This is the excavation I worked on. Those amulets were in my room. I’ve held them in my hand!” That afternoon I entertained the preacher for the day, Mr. T. Ernest Wilson, a retired missionary from Angola. In the course of our conversation he asked me if I knew anything about this discovery. I smiled and said, “Would you like to see a drawing of it?” At this point the drawings had not been published and Bill Wilson and I were the only ones in America that had a drawing of the amulets.

  The Publication of the Texts

  Archaeological protocol gives the right of publication in a timely fashion to the director of the excavation or to someone designated by the excavator. Goby has always been a thorough and meticulous scholar and will only publish something after he has completely studied the issue.

  When I was in graduate school (1986-87) I was invited to give a paper on the amulets at the Southeast Regional Evangelical Theological Society meeting in Columbia, SC. I called Goby to ask his permission to give the paper. He hesitated at first, but then asked, “Will the people in the audience be theologians or archaeologists?” I replied, “Theologians.” He said, “Fine, go ahead and give the paper.” I appreciated Goby giving me permission because he still had not published the amulets in a technical fashion. The first article in Hebrew was in 1989 (Barkay 1989) and then translated and published in English in 1992 (Barkay 1992).

  A Description of the Amulets

  The larger amulet, Ketef Hinnom I, was 27.5 mm wide, with a diameter of 11 mm. In the center was a hole 2 mm in diameter, used to thread a string through in order to wear around the neck. When unrolled, the plaque measured 97 mm long and 27 mm wide. The weight of the object was 7.6 grams.

  This amulet was almost pure silver. The metal analysis showed a 99% silver content and a 1% copper. These plaques might be the beaten (hammered) silver brought from Tarshish mentioned in Jeremiah 10:9.

  The letters were incised on the plaques. Jeremiah, a contemporary of these amulets, describes how the writing was possibly done, “with a pen of iron, with a point of diamond” (17:1, NKJV).

  At the top of the amulet is a group of letters that at first did not make sense. After re-photographing the amulets in 1994, the group of letters became readable (Barkay, Lundberg, Vaughn, Zuckerman, Zuckerman 2003). With more letters, the text became more understandable. The first fourteen lines read, “…]YHW … the grea[t … who keeps] the covenant and [G}raciousness toward those who love [him] and those who keep [His commandments … …]. The Eternal? […]. [the?] blessing more than any [sna]re and more than Evil. For redemption is in Him. For YHWH is our restorer [and] rock” (Barkay, Lundberg, Vaughn and Zuckerman 2004: 61). It was observed that the “substance of the reading for lines 2-7 is reasonably secure because these lines fit, at least loosely, a biblical parallel attested to in Dan. 9:4 and Neh. 1:5 (with a similar reading in Deut. 7:9)” (2004:55).

  The end of the amulet has part of the priestly blessing. The last portion of it, however, was lost when the scroll was unrolled.

  The smaller amulet, Ketef Hinnom II, is 11.5 mm wide and 5.5 mm in diameter in a rolled up position. Unrolled, it is 39.2 mm long and 11 mm wide. Unfortunately, the bottom third was missing. The priestly blessing on it says, “The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face to shine upon you, and give you peace.” The passage in Numbers 6:24-26 upon which it is based has fifteen words in it. The scribe of the amulet left out five words in order to create a shorter blessing. And we thought the Reader’s Digest Bible was a modern invention!

  The Dating of the Amulets

  The burial cave in which the amulets were found was carved in the mid-seventh century BC. The pottery assemblage comes from three discernable periods. The first period is the end of the Iron Age. This pottery style parallels the pottery from Lachish, Level II, and the City of David, Level X. These levels are dated to the end of the Judean Monarchy, or 587 BC. The second period is the Babylonian period when most of the Judeans were in captivity in Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah mentions people who remained behind after the Babylonians carried away, or killed, most of the Judeans (Jer. 41:5; 39:10). The third period represented was the Hellenistic period. The few finds from this period were confined to the area around the entrance of the repository of the burial cave.

  Based on the style of the letters, or paleography, Goby dated the amulets to the late seventh century BC, or very early sixth century BC (Barkay 1992). Several scholars challenged this date and argued that it was much later, during the Hellenistic period. One of the reasons was the existence of the eight Hellenistic pottery pieces in the cave.

  The importance of careful records cannot be overestimated. Goby had to go back and look at the journal that I kept and the plan of the burial cave with the objects plotted on them. It was observed that the average depth of the deposits in the repository was 65 cm deep. The Ketef Hinnom I amulet was found 7 cm above the floor. This demonstrated that the amulet was one of the earliest objects thrown into the repository. Ketef Hinnom II was found in Area A, the back quadrant. Goby observed that this was also one of the earliest deposits.

  On paleographic grounds, these two inscriptions should be dated to the end of the seventh century BC. This fits well with the corresponding archaeological data as well as historical considerations. Clearly these are the two oldest Biblical texts found to date. They predate the Dead Sea Scrolls by at least 400 years.

  Implication for Biblical Studies

  There is at least one important implication for Biblical studies. According to the critical scholars, Numbers 6:23-27 should be attributed to the so-called “P source” which is generally dated to the Post-Exilic, or Persian Period. It is obvious that we now have two examples of this text that were written prior to the Babylonian captivity. This makes it impossible to assume that the Priestly Benediction was crystallized during the Post-Exilic period.

  A word of caution is in order. These amulets cannot be used to prove when the priestly blessing was originally composed, or even who wrote it. The only thing they can tell us is that at the end of the seventh century BC the priestly blessing existed. We have to turn to the Bible to find out that Aaron, the brother of Moses, first gave the blessing and Moses wrote it down sometime during the last half of the 15^th century BC.

  Conclusion

  These amulets were worn around the neck to protect the wearer from evil or to surround themselves with the name of the Lord for protection. We observe the same phenomenon today when people wear religious objects, hoping that God would be gracious to them and protect them. It seems that the Biblical passages are added on at the end of a “prayer request” for protection from some evil person or calamity, or for blessing in the wearer’s life.

  These two silver objects with Scripture verses on them could be the forerunner to the phylacteries of the later periods. It is interesting, Torah instructed the people to “wear the Word of God.” In Exodus 13:9,16 it says, “And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth” (NKJV, cf. also Deut. 6:8; 11:18; Prov. 6:21; 1:9: 3:3, 22; 7:3).

  The people literally wore the Word of God. The LORD gave this injunction in order to keep the Word of God constantly before His people, that they might learn it and obey it.

  Even today this is still a good practice. In memorizing the Word of God, a poster or picture with a Scripture verse on it is helpful. But more important than wearing the Word of God, or hanging it on our wall, is to have it abiding in our hearts. King David declared, “Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee” (Ps. 119:11 NKJV).

  Bibliography

  Avigad, Nahman
  1953 The Epitaph of a Royal steward from Siloam Village. Israel Exploration Journal 3: 137-152.

  Barkay, Gabriel
  1989 The Priestly Benediction of the Ketef Hinnom Plaques. Cathedra 52: 37-76 (Hebrew).

  ______1992 The Priestly Benediction on Silver Plaques from Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem. Tel Aviv 19: 139-192.

  ______1994Excavations at Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem. Pp. 85-106 in Ancient Jerusalem Revealed. Edited by H. Geva. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.

  Barkay, Gabriel; Lundberg, Marilyn; Vaughn, Andrew; and Zuckerman, Bruce
  2004 The Amulets from Ketef Hinnom: A New Edition and Evaluation. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 334: 41-71.

  Barkay, Gabriel; Lundberg, Marilyn; Vaughn, Andrew; Zuckerman, Bruce; Zuckerman, Kenneth
  2003 The Challenge of Ketef Hinnom. Near Eastern Archaeology 66: 162-171.

  Franz, Gordon
  1986 The Excavations at St. Andrews Church in Jerusalem. Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin 27: 5-24.

  Rabinovich, Abraham
  1986 Word for Word. The Jerusalem Post International Edition. August 9, pages 16,17.

  Rasovsky, Marima; Bigelajzen, David; and Shenhav, Dodo
  1992 Cleaning and Unrolling the Silver Plaques. Tel Aviv 19: 192-194.

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