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As the Russians invaded Ukraine, Olga and her husband were suddenly living on the frontlines. In fact, their apartment in Mariupol was completely destroyed during the bombings. When their rabbi left the city, they took refuge in the synagogue’s basement. But as the explosions intensified, they realized the building could not withstand further bombardments.

So just several weeks into the attacks, with only half of their city still standing, the couple decided to leave Mariupol and flee to Israel. They headed for Berdyansk, and came under fire. “It took us awhile to finally get out of Ukraine,” Olga recalled. “Everywhere we turned, there was chaos and danger. Sadly, many tried to leave but did not make it. It was very risky.”

They dodged numerous landmines in the road and saw cars that had been blown up. Looters tried to attack them. They refueled in Crimea and made it to Rostov—where they were finally able to board a rescue flight for Israel. Yet, as new immigrants, who would help them?

Thankfully, friends like you were there. Upon arriving, they heard CBN Israel could assist them, and called the number. As they settled near Nazareth, donors provided finances to purchase food, clothing, furniture, and other necessities. Olga exclaimed, “We are deeply grateful to you for helping us start a new life in our ancestral homeland. We will never forget your generosity!”

Your gifts to CBN Israel can offer compassionate relief to many others in need—including single mothers, Holocaust survivors, and terror victims.

And your support can bring essential aid—such as groceries, housing, appliances, and financial help—to those who are hurting. Please let us hear from you today!

Will you reach out in kindness and compassion to those in need?

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By Marc Turnage

Roadways are one of the most significant aspects of biblical geography. Roads often gave significance to locations, villages, and cities. In fact, roadways influenced and dictated settlement patterns, the building and establishing of cities and villages. Controlling roadways meant control of travel, commerce, and communication. Many of the events described in the Bible happen due to their strategic locations along important roadways. This aspect of biblical geography is often missed by the casual reader of the Bible. 

One of the challenges faced by Jerusalem in the period of the Old Testament was that it did not sit directly on major roadways. The principal north-south road through the central hill country laid west of the city, and deep canyons to its west and east made access from these directions very difficult. Therefore, the Central Benjamin Plateau, the tribal territory of Benjamin, was so important for Jerusalem; it provided the convergence of north-south and east-west roads. It was Jerusalem’s crossroads. If a resident of Jerusalem wanted to go to the east or west, he or she first traveled north to Benjamin where they met up with the east-west roads.

This reality continued to some extent into the New Testament period. However, with Jerusalem’s increased importance and the connection between it and Jericho, which sits about twenty-three miles to the east, a roadway was established between Jerusalem and Jericho. Over the course of these twenty-three miles, the land drops off between Jerusalem to Jericho from 2700 feet above sea level to 850 feet below sea level. 

This roadway, which still lay slightly to Jerusalem’s north, followed the route of a canyon system that cuts through the hills to the east of Jerusalem heading down towards Jericho in the Jordan Valley. The main branch of this system, above Jericho, become the Wadi Qilt. At the mouth of the Qilt sat Herod the Great’s winter palace; where, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, Herod died in 4 B.C. Herod’s palace consisted of two parts that straddled the Qilt, and he diverted water from the wadi to serve his pools, bath, and palace needs. 

Jesus passed by Herod’s palace (see Luke 19:11) on His journey to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. One route Galilean pilgrims took to Jerusalem brought them down the east bank of the Jordan River; they crossed near Jericho, and then ascended to Jerusalem via the roadway that followed the Wadi Qilt. This also served for the setting of the story Jesus told about the man “going down from Jerusalem to Jericho,” who fell among thieves, and eventually a kindly Samaritan helped him (Luke 10:30-37). 

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

Have you ever noticed that we can approach God with seemingly the right intentions and desires, but in His eyes, our motivations and desires matter little in light of how we treat others?

The prophet Isaiah says the people “seek [God] daily, delight to know [His] ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God” (Isaiah 58:2 NKJV). They even delight in the “nearness of God.” Sounds like they’re doing everything right. Isn’t that what we tell people to do—seek God daily and delight in His nearness? Yet God calls upon Isaiah to announce to the house of Jacob their guilt and sin (58:1).

The people ask God why their fasts are ineffective. They fasted. They starved their bodies (58:3). That’s what we’re supposed to do, right? Shouldn’t God answer us then?

God responds with a jolting message: On your fast day, you do what pleases you. You exploit your workers; you cause strife and contention (58:3-4). While they may have the proper desires towards God, and even carry out their fasts properly (see 58:5), their reprehensible behavior toward others causes their voices not to be heard on high.

God doesn’t care that they starve themselves, putting on sackcloth and lying in ashes. Such a fast does not move Him.

The prophet then offers the fast that God desires, “a day pleasing to the LORD,” the kind that moves Him to act on the people’s behalf “to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free” and “break every yoke” (58:6). He calls upon the people “to share your bread with the hungry,” to bring to your house the poor who are cast out, to cover the naked, and “not hide yourself from your own flesh” (58:7).

Instead of starving themselves, donning sackcloth, and lying in ashes, they should treat others with care and compassion, which will then motivate God to act on their behalf. “Then shall your light burst forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily and … the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am’” (58:8-9).

Isaiah’s message: God is far more concerned with how you treat those around you, especially the poor and needy, than He is with your religious piety or even your desire to seek Him.

The mark of true spirituality is not only our pursuit of God, but also our actions towards others. Our intentions and desires may seem spiritual, but if we do not treat others with care and compassion, then our desires for God matter little to Him.

What motivates God to answer our cries? How we treat those around us, especially those in need.

PRAYER

Father, forgive us for not seeing those around us as the true path to showing our desire and delight for You. May our actions be pleasing before You, O Lord. Amen.

Christianity and Judaism (modern Judaism) are sisters; their mother is ancient Judaism. The New Testament belongs to the world of ancient Judaism. As such, to understand the New Testament, we need to study ancient Judaism. We find within ancient Judaism the faith, ideas, forms of teachings, theological developments, and manner of biblical interpretation found within the New Testament; thus, ancient Judaism provides windows through which we interpret and understand the New Testament. 

Jesus, Paul, Peter, and John expressed their ideas, faith, and expectations within the context of the world of ancient Judaism. For we as modern readers of the Bible, who find ourselves separated from the world of ancient Judaism, the study of ancient Judaism enables us to better understand the words of the New Testament figures and writers.  

Even beyond the New Testament, the first century was an axial period within human history, which gave birth to Judaism and Christianity, both of which eventually influenced the foundation of Islam. To understand history, particularly the history of Mediterranean region, from the first century until now, requires us to know something about the world of ancient Judaism, which gave us many ideas prevalent within the history of the Western world that remain with us today. 

Between the world of ancient Judaism and modern Judaism stand the last two thousand years of history. A history which has witnessed the ascendancy of Christianity, and as with many siblings, the history of Christianity and Judaism has been contentious, bitter, and hurtful, especially to Judaism. 

Studying modern Judaism does not necessarily assist one in better understanding the New Testament, but it does explain how we move from Jesus, a Jew, to Judaism’s hostility towards him. It has little to do with Jesus, and mostly to do with his followers, especially his non-Jewish followers. 

Learning about modern Judaism forces Christians to confront a very ugly history of how Christians have treated the Jews, often being the source of anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic attitudes and voices, which remain with us until today. 

Learning about modern Judaism enables modern Christians to understand the challenges of Jewish-Christian dialogue and interactions. Learning about modern Judaism explains modern Zionism and the founding of the State of Israel. 

Learning about modern Judaism should lead Christians to ask some theological questions of themselves concerning the Jewish people and Israel. Learning about modern Judaism, however, also provides the ability to understand Jews and Judaism, to see the world from their perspective historically, culturally, and theologically.

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

Sepphoris was the capital of the Galilee during the first part of the 1^st century A.D., when Jesus was a boy. Located four miles north of Nazareth, Sepphoris sat in the Beth Netofa Valley, which provided a main east-west roadway in the Lower Galilee from the northwestern part of the Sea of Galilee to Akko-Ptolemias on the Mediterranean coast. Sepphoris consists of an upper and lower city. Within Jewish history, Sepphoris served as the location where Judah the Prince compiled the rabbinic oral teachings into the Mishnah, the earliest body of rabbinic teaching. It was written in Hebrew.

Excavations at Sepphoris uncovered evidence of settlement even as early as the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age I. It seems, however, that a continuous settlement existed at the site from the Persian Period (5^th century B.C.) through the Crusader Period. Excavations reveal that during the Roman Period, the western part of the upper city contained Jewish residents, as indicated by the presence of Jewish ritual immersion baths and two oil lamps decorated with menorahs. The upper city also contained a theater set into the northern scarp of the hill, overlooking the Beth Netofa Valley. It could hold about 4500 spectators. Some assign the date of the theater to the 1^st century A.D., but most archaeologists date it to the early to mid-2^nd century A.D. 

One of the center pieces of the site of Sepphoris is a Roman villa built in the 3^rd century A.D. The villa contains a beautiful mosaic floor in its dining room, a triclinium. The center of the mosaic contains scenes depicting the life of the Greek god Dionysius (the god of wine and revelry), including a drinking contest between Dionysius and the hero Heracles. Surrounding the Dionysius scenes are scenes of hunting with wild animals and naked hunters including various flora. In this band of scenes, on the southern end of the mosaic, appears a depiction of a beautiful woman, with either a hunter or Cupid, next to her head. If it is Cupid, then the woman likely is intended to be the goddess Aphrodite. 

Excavations in the lower city have revealed a city planning typical to the Hellenistic-Roman world, a cardo (a north-south street) and a decumanus (an east-west street). Some archaeologists date this urban planning to the 1^st century A.D.; others date it to the 2^nd century A.D. The cardo and decumanus are flanked by colonnaded sidewalks for pedestrians, with mosaic pavements. Within the lower city, homes, public buildings, as well as a lower city market, have been uncovered. 

Excavators discovered a synagogue in Sepphoris that dates to the 5^th century A.D. Its floor is a mosaic that depicts the sun god Helios with his chariot of horses surrounded by a zodiac. Biblical scenes were also depicted although this part of the mosaic was damaged, but it seems to have depicted the story of the binding of Isaac (like the synagogue in Beth Alpha). It remained in use until the 7^th century A.D. 

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

“They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. ‘Oh no, my lord!’ he cried out. ‘It was borrowed!’ The man of God asked, ‘Where did it fall?’ When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. ‘Lift it out,’ he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it” (2 Kings 6:4-7 NIV).

Do you ever imagine that God is too big and that His responsibilities are too vast to care about the daily details of our lives? After all, He has the universe to run, right?

The man lost a borrowed axe-head in the water. That was his problem, nothing that God should concern Himself with. Yet He did.

The Bible never presents God as so transcendent that the common, everyday details of our lives do not move Him. Jesus stated, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:29-30 NIV).

God is not distant from us even if it may seem like that at times. He cares deeply for us, and He is near to us. He cares enough to involve Himself in the issues of our daily lives.

The man in the story did not own the iron axe-head. It was borrowed. Its loss troubled him, as anyone could imagine it would. God caused the axe-head to float, permitting easy retrieval.

Many of the stories about Elisha describe miracles he performed for the common, daily life of the people: multiplied oil in a jar (2 Kings 4:1-7); revived the Shunammite’s son (2 Kings 4:18-37); purified a pot of stew (2 Kings 4:38-41); fed 100 men (2 Kings 4:42-44). And he made an axe-head float. These stories demonstrate that the God of Israel was concerned about the daily needs and lives of the people. He is for us, too.

No issue is too small for His concern. He is a loving Father. Like any parent, He delights in taking care of His children.

He is the King of the universe, the all-powerful, the creator of everything. He is awesome and majestic. He is also the God who makes the axe-head float. Never forget that.

PRAYER

Father, show us today that even in the smallest details of our lives—those things that matter to us—You are near and they matter to You, too. Amen.

The Bible is God’s revelation in time, place, and culture. The Bible represents the cultural world and worldviews of its authors and their audiences. The cultural world of the Old Testament is that of ancient Israel within the broader context of the Ancient Near East. In the New Testament, it is the cultural world of ancient Judaism within the broader context of the Greco-Roman world. 

Thus, the Bible does not represent a single culture, but multiple cultures. Culture evolves through time. As events transpire within the history of a people, the culture changes and adapts; thus, the cultural world of the Old Testament is not that of the New Testament.

Modern students of the Bible often struggle reading the Bible within its cultural contexts. We tend to import our culture into the Bible rather than understanding the Bible within its cultures. 

Language represents one of the clearest communications of culture. Through language, people communicate their ideas, values, perceptions of reality and the world, hopes, and understanding. Language is culture. It is also the most sanative part of a culture to historical events and processes. The history of a people leaves its fingerprints within its language from period to period. Thus, when we read the Bible, even if we read it in our language, we must remember that words and the ideas they communicate likely did not mean the same thing to them as it did us. 

Culture also pertains to things like marriage, birth and child rearing, inheritance practices, death and burial, tribal and family structure, economic life, village life, shepherding and farming, laws, justice, and judgement, weapons and warfare. People express their beliefs, values, and worldviews through culture. Whenever we read the Bible, we must be cognizant of the cultures it contains. Often the authors do not explain culture and its nuances to us because they could assume their primary audience understood them. 

The two primary means we have to engage the cultural context of the Bible are ancient written sources contemporary with the Bible and archaeology. Ancient written sources provide windows into the cultural world of the Bible. They often explain cultural details or provide greater background than we find in the Bible. They offer a broader repository of language, vocabulary, and ideas, which help us understand the words of the Bible within their cultural context. 

Archaeology offers a window into the material cultural of the people who lived in the world of the Bible. It uncovers the daily existence and tools people used during their lives within the world of the Bible. It can illuminate passages within the Bible and enables us to touch the world of the Bible in a way which can aide our ability to read and understand the Bible.

If we want to understand what the writers of the Bible meant, to better understand what the Bible means for us today, then we must study the cultural world of the Bible.

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

Mount Nebo is in the Transjordan (the modern Kingdom of Jordan) in the biblical territory of Moab. From here, Moses viewed the promised land, which he was not permitted to enter due to his disobedience in the Wilderness of Zin (Numbers 20).

God also buried him on Mount Nebo (Deuteronomy 34:1-8). The two and a half tribes that remained east of the Jordan River (Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh) name Mount Nebo as part of the territory they requested from Moses. Its situation near to the southern end of Gilead (see Deuteronomy 34:1) and within Moab meant that, like other locations along this border, at times it came under the control of Israel and at others the Moabites laid claim to it.

Near to the mountain was a village also named Nebo (Numbers 32:3; 32:38; Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 48:1). The preservation of the name of the city aided later travelers and pilgrims in identifying Mount Nebo, which has been identified as such since the 4^th century A.D. Byzantine pilgrims routinely visited Mount Nebo and left descriptions as to its location.

Mount Nebo is demarcated by two wadis on the north (Wadi Ayoun Mousa) and south (Wadi Afrit), and the Jordan Valley to the west. It’s highest peak stands at over 2,500 feet above sea level, and none of its peaks are lower than 2,100 feet above sea level.

The two most important peaks are Siyagha in the north (2,130 feet) and Mukhayyat (2,370 feet). Both yield evidence of human presence for thousands of years. From both locations, one has a dramatic view of the Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley and Jericho, and the wilderness of Tekoa to Jerusalem.

Excavations on Siyagha revealed a basilica with mosaics and a monastery that developed around it. So too, excavations on Mukhayyat revealed several Byzantine churches as well.

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