ARTICLES

By Marc Turnage

Three miles southeast of Bethlehem sits Herodium, the palace-fortress built by Herod the Great (Matthew 2). Overlooking the birthplace of Jesus, Herod’s fortress guarded the eastern roads through the wilderness from Bethlehem to Ein Gedi. It also served as a reminder of the difficult political situation in which the Jews found themselves within the first century. Herod represented Rome—the pagan empire that exploited the resources of the land of Israel for its benefit. 

Herod built the artificial cone shaped hill to commemorate his military victory against the last of the Hasmoneans, Mattithias Antigonus, who was aided by the Parthians. Herod won a skirmish as he fled Jerusalem, and later built Herodium, the palace-fortress he named after himself, on this site. Herodium consists of two complexes: the palace-fortress and the lower palace. The palace-fortress consists of a circular double wall, with four towers (the largest of which faces to the east). Inside the structure, Herod built a private bathhouse, a triclinium (“U” shaped) dining room, reception halls, and living quarters. 

Archaeologists have recently uncovered the large entry gate into the palace-fortress. Jewish rebels during the First Jewish Revolt (A.D. 66-73) and the Bar Kochbah Revolt (A.D. 132-136) occupied Herodium. The Jewish rebels of the First Revolt converted the dining room into a synagogue. It was one of the last rebel strongholds to fall to the Romans in the First Revolt. Letters sent to the Jewish garrison at Herodium from the messianic leader of the Bar Kochbah Revolt, Shimon ben Kosiba, were discovered in caves along the shores of the Dead Sea. 

Josephus records that Herod the Great was buried at Herodium. After he died in Jericho in 4 B.C., his body was brought to Herodium where it was interred. Archaeologists discovered Herod’s tomb in 2006. They uncovered an ornate mausoleum on the northern side of the conical shaped hill of the palace-fortress. Pieces of Herod’s sarcophagus were also discovered. It had been smashed in antiquity. Excavations next to the tomb uncovered a stairway that led from the bottom of the hill to the entry gate of the palace-fortress, as well as a small theater. The box seating of this theater contained ornate decorations including plaster molding and beautiful frescoes. Herod constructed this theater, most likely, for the visit of Marcus Agrippa, both a close friend of his and of Caesar Augusts (Luke 2).

The lower palace consists primarily of a large bathhouse and pool complex. Roman style bathhouses consisted of four main areas: changing room, cold bath, tepid bath, and a warm/hot room that could either function as a steam room or a dry sauna. The bathhouses at Herod’s palaces had these features. The pool at Herodium was heated as well as the bathhouse. 

There is a certain irony that within the shadow of Herodium, the angels proclaimed the good news of the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in the field. Herod’s fortress and monument to himself overlooked the very place where it would be announced that a new king would be born and that he would be Israel’s Messiah. And, it also stood watch when Herod’s soldiers killed the young boys seeking to remove the threat of the child born to Mary and Joseph. 

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

“And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever” (Luke 1:50-55 NKJV).

We tend to focus on the spiritual meaning of Jesus’ coming and overlook that within the New Testament, including the Gospels, His coming—which was connected to God’s redemption—had spiritual, political, and social consequences.

The Magnificat, Mary’s song, articulates her excitement and expectations: God is showing His mercy to those who fear Him, He scatters the proud, He brings the mighty low and raises up the humble, and He fulfills His promises to Israel’s fathers. The coming of God’s redemption meant a reversal of the current order of things, especially for those of low state.

This same message echoes in the teaching of Mary’s son, who saw His movement as bringing about God’s redemption and the dawning of God’s reign. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. … But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep” (Luke 6:20-21, 24-25 NIV). 

Jesus’ message embodied the hopes of His birth. God’s redemption and His reign dawns. God draws near, especially to the poor, hungry, and those who mourn.

And, because of their downtrodden status, Jesus viewed them as blessed. Moreover, He called upon those who would follow Him to care for and be mindful of the weak (see Matthew 19:16-22; 25:34-46). The obedience of His followers to caring for the hurting, poor, hungry, and suffering visibly demonstrates the breaking forth of God’s redemptive reign. 

God’s message of hope in the advent of Jesus is that He is near, especially to the poor, the hungry, the weak, and those who mourn. How do we embody this reality in our daily lives?

Celebrating Christmas is not only about Nativity scenes or pageants, or choir cantatas, or even Handel’s Messiah. Christmas means the realization and incarnation of Mary’s song and her son’s message: God is near, especially to the poor, hungry, and weak. 

PRAYER

O, Lord, You are King. You raise up and bring low. You rule the universe, and yet You are near to the poor, the hurting, and the suffering. And so was Your Son. Father, in this season when we remember His coming, may we proclaim Your kingship by being near to those who are near to You. Amen.  

By Marc Turnage

Nazareth—the boyhood home of Jesus—sits on a limestone ridge (the Nazareth Ridge) in the Lower Galilee that separates the Jezreel Valley to the south from the Beit Netofa Valley to the north. Nazareth first appears in ancient literary sources in the New Testament (Matthew 2:23; Luke 1:26; Luke 2:4, 39, and 51). According to Luke, Jesus’ mother, Mary, came from Nazareth (1:26). Matthew relates how the Holy Family, after returning from Egypt, relocated to Nazareth (2:19–23). Jesus taught in Nazareth’s synagogue (Luke 4:16-30), and as His popularity grew, He became known as “Jesus from Nazareth” (Matthew 21:11).

Although Nazareth is not mentioned in ancient sources prior to the New Testament, archaeologists have uncovered remains from the Middle Bronze Age (time of the Patriarchs), Iron Age II (time of kingdoms of Israel and Judah), and the late Hellenistic eras. The discovery of tombs from the early Roman period (first century B.C. to second century A.D.) indicates the limit of the village, as Jews do not bury their dead inside of cities or villages. The site in the first century covered an area of about sixty 60 acres, with a population of maybe perhaps 500 people. 

Ancient Nazareth sits 3.8 miles (about an hour-and-fifteen-minute walk) to the south of Sepphoris, the capital of Galilee when Jesus was a boy. Its proximity indicates its dependency upon Sepphoris; moreover, its location between the Jezreel and Beit Netofa Valleys, both of which contained international travel routes, suggests that Jesus was anything but “a hick from the sticks.”

Archaeologists uncovered what they tentatively identify as a Jewish ritual immersion bath from the early Roman period. If they are correct, it may point to the location of the synagogue of Nazareth (see Luke 4:16-30). This, as well as early Christian structures, are now enclosed inside the modern compound of the Catholic Church of the Annunciation, built in the 1960s. 

Later Jewish tradition identifies Nazareth as the location where the priestly course of Hapizez settled after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in A.D. 70; an inscription discovered in the coastal city of Caesarea, from the Byzantine period, repeats this. The church fathers Eusebius and Epiphanius indicate that the population of Nazareth was Jewish into the sixth century A.D. 

By the fourth century A.D., Christian pilgrims began to journey to Nazareth and were shown a cave identified as the home of Mary. It remains a place for pilgrims to this day. It has housed churches since the Byzantine period. Today, Nazareth contains two main pilgrim churches: the Catholic Church of the Annunciation and the Orthodox church built over the spring of Nazareth. 

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

By Marc Turnage

Galilee is the northernmost region of the central mountain range that runs like a spine (north-south) through the land of Israel. The mountains of Galilee have the highest elevations within the hill country, and therefore, offer the coolest temperatures along with lush vegetation. 

Galilee divides into two regions, Upper and Lower Galilee. The names derive from the heights of the region, with Upper Galilee containing the high mountains (more than 3000 feet above sea level), while Lower Galilee has lower hills (the peaks remain below 2000 feet) and broad east-west valleys. The division and names initially appear in the first century, but such a division stands behind the order of towns within the region recorded in Joshua 19:35-38. The natural boundary separating Upper and Lower Galilee is the Beth-Haccerem Valley. 

The Upper Galilee extends into southern Lebanon today, until the Litani River Gorge. Its mountainous terrain impeded travel, which in antiquity meant more scattered settlements. The northern part of the Upper Galilee offered more tablelands and springs, which enabled more settlement. 

The Lower Galilee consists of a series of ridges running east-west that create valleys for passage between them. These passage ways proved to be incredibly important travel corridors as people moved both regionally and internationally through the Lower Galilee. To the east, the Galilee slopes down towards the Jordan Valley, the Huleh Valley (north of the Sea of Galilee), and the Sea of Galilee. The southern boundary of the Lower Galilee was the Jezreel Valley. In the first centuries B.C. and A.D., at times the Jezreel Valley was considered part of the Galilee, and other times it was not. 

The Galilee served as the center of Jesus’ life and ministry. He grew up in Nazareth, which sat in the heart of Lower Galilee. He traveled throughout the Galilee preaching, teaching, and healing in the villages of the region. 

He travelled from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee via the Beth-Netofa Valley, an east-west valley that provided travel from the Mediterranean coast to the Sea of Galilee. Jesus turned the water into wine (John 2:1-12) and healed the nobleman’s son in Cana, which sits in the Lower Galilee. When Jesus travelled to Jerusalem for pilgrimage, he went through the Lower Galilee. 

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

By Marc Turnage

The Jordan Valley is a narrow valley the extends from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the Dead Sea in the south. It is part of the great Syro-African Rift, the longest scar on the face of the planet, that spans from Syria to Lake Victoria in Africa.

The southern stretch of the Jordan River as it exits the Sea of Galilee passes through this valley on its way to the Dead Sea. From the southern end of the Sea of Galilee to the northern shore of the Dead Sea is roughly sixty miles, yet over these sixty miles, the Jordan River meanders a little over two hundred miles. Today, the Jordan Valley serves as the international boundary between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Israel, and the West Bank.

The Jordan Valley served as an interior travel route between the hill country of Cisjordan (west of the Jordan River) and Transjordan. It enabled east-west travel between these two regions, as well as north-south travel through the valley. In the first century, the Jordan Valley served as one of the three routes Galilean pilgrims could take to Jerusalem. The Gospels record Jesus following this route on his final journey to Jerusalem (Luke 19:1-11).

The northern stretch of the valley, from the Sea of Galilee until south of Beth-Shean, received good rainfall, and therefore, had rich agriculture. South of Beth-Shean towards the Dead Sea, the high mountains of Samaria restrict rainfall and the climate becomes harsh, dry, and unfriendly. Along the Jordan River, however, vegetation grows and as recently as the 19^th century served as the habitation for lions, among other wildlife that still live there today.

Throughout the periods of the Old and New Testament, settlement existed within the Jordan Valley. Sites like Beth-Shean, Jericho, Pella, Deir ‘Alla (biblical Succoth), and Rehov provided important administrative, religious, and commercial centers within the Jordan Valley. It served as the route between many biblical stories that involved places in Cisjordan and Transjordan.

Marc Turnage is President/CEO of Biblical Expeditions. He is an authority on ancient Judaism and Christian origins. He has published widely for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent book, Windows into the Bible, was named by Outreach Magazine as one of its top 100 Christian living resources. Marc is a widely sought-after speaker and a gifted teacher. He has been guiding groups to the lands of the Bible—Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy—for over twenty years.

Website: WITBUniversity.com
Facebook: @witbuniversity
Podcast: Windows into the Bible Podcast

Since Israel’s war began on October 7, living in a constant state of danger is the new normal for Israelis. But what happens to people when hope turns to despair the longer a war lasts?

Ukraine has lived through a 10-year war which has intensified in the last few years. Regent University professor Olga Zaporozhets has counseled Ukraine war victims, and believes the same waves of trauma she saw in Ukraine will wash over Israel, if nothing is done to prevent it. And thankfully, it can be prevented, through recently developed therapies.

Unlike a single short-lived disaster, with a return to safety and recovery, living with the stress of prolonged war can take a long-term toll, with people needing relief and hope. Zaporozhets explained, “I believe Ukrainian research and professionals now have these new experiences, new research, and new results that are very valuable in the Israeli situation right now.”

She continued, “We have tools to bring healing and early intervention stabilization procedures. If people know how to do them, PTSD and stress reactions go away—and PTSD does not develop.” This can be a vital tool in bringing war victims into a healthier, hopeful place.

And thanks to the support of caring donors, these new methods were showcased in a September and October workshop in Ramet Gan, Israel—featuring a collaboration of CBN Israel, Regent University, Israel Trauma Coalition, and counseling institutions established by Regent University in Ukraine.

Though CBN Israel has hosted numerous trauma counseling seminars, this one was conducted exclusively in Russian. More than 50 Russian-speaking therapists from across the nation attended, since 1.5 million Israelis speak Russian—including refugees who escaped Ukraine’s war. Research shows that receiving counseling in one’s native language produces better results. 

Your gifts to CBN Israel can also help war victims in many other ways—through evacuations, meals, lodging, and more—while providing compassionate relief to those in need across the Holy Land.

Please join us in reaching out with God’s love to those who are hurting!

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