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By Marc Turnage

Located on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, about seven miles south of Jericho and twenty miles north of Ein Gedi, sits the ruins of Qumran. Eleven caves around Qumran yielded, arguably, the most important archaeological discovery of the twentieth century: the Dead Sea Scrolls. The current name, Qumran, comes from the Arabic word qamar (“moon”), so it was not its ancient name, which remains unknown. Some have suggested that it may be Secacah (Joshua 15:61-62). 

In 1947, in a cave just north of the ruins of Qumran, Bedouin shepherds discovered seven leather scrolls hidden inside. This set off the frantic search by scholars and Bedouin alike to discover more caves and scrolls. Around Qumran, eleven caves were discovered between 1952-1956 that contained scrolls. The discovery of scrolls in the caves around Qumran led archaeologists to excavate the ruins of Qumran in 1951 and from 1953-1956. 

The library of scrolls discovered in the eleven caves yielded approximately 30,000 fragments of scrolls, comprising about 1,000 manuscripts written on leather, papyrus, and one on copper, in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The library proves incredibly important for our understanding of the text of the Old Testament, as well as ancient Judaism, the Judaism of the first century. 

Every book of the Old Testament, except for Esther, was discovered among the Qumran library. The most copied books were Psalms, Deuteronomy, and Isaiah, which are also the three Old Testament books most frequently quoted in the New Testament. The library also contained non-biblical works written by Jews from the second century B.C. to the first century A.D., with a unique collection of writings belonging to the Jewish sect that lived at Qumran, a group most scholars identify as the Essenes, which are mentioned by several ancient writers. 

Most scholars identify the ruins of Qumran as belonging to a group of Essenes. The site consists of rooms, which have been identified as a scriptorium, where the community members copied the scrolls, a dining room, which is the longest room at the site and had a pantry filled with bowls, plates, and cups. The site also contains pottery kilns, water reservoirs, as well as several large communal Jewish ritual immersion baths. 

The site, which sits in a dry, desert climate, used a series of dams and water channels to bring water from the nearby wadi, which flooded during the winter rains. The dams and channels ensured that water flowed into the settlement and filled the water installations. 

The discovery of the scrolls significantly advanced our understanding of the text of the Old Testament, as well as the world of ancient Judaism, which is the world of the New Testament.  

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

“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” (James 4:11-12 NKJV)

A Jewish contemporary of Jesus said, “Do not judge your neighbor until you have come to his place.” It’s an ancient version of our modern saying: “Don’t judge a person until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes.” 

We live in a world that clamors for mercy, yet each group speaks evil about their opponents, and in so doing, we judge one another.

Many sugarcoat their speech by claiming that they are defending the “truth,” and therefore they justify the harshness of their words against their foes. “He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law.”

This is not an appeal for universalism. It’s a call for mercy. Do not judge your neighbor until you have come to his place. The Bible is clear: God is the just Judge, and the just Judge of the world will judge justly. Leave it to Him. We are not called to judge but to show mercy. To forgive. To treat others in the same manner we want God to treat us. 

That’s not easy in the world in which we live. Our world is polarizing. It divides us. It encourages us to judge those who don’t agree with us. It fuels our suspicion and negativity toward others. And, in the midst of this, James asks us, “Who are you to judge another?” 

In our world today, we have to fight against the inertia that pulls us toward judging others. There is only One who can judge, and He reserves that right for Himself.

God looks upon the hearts and minds of people, and He knows where they’ve come from.

If we reflect the same judgment that our world renders on one another, then our faith doesn’t really mean much. Let’s strive for love and mercy because the just Judge is also merciful, even towards us.

PRAYER

Father, may we be merciful toward others, as You are. Amen. 

Bella was born in Poland and survived the Holocaust with her family after they escaped to a forest and slipped into another country. She later came to Israel where she chose to live in one of the kibbutzim in the south, close to the borders of both Egypt and Gaza.

But after many decades of raising a family of her own in relative security, the Hamas invasion of October 7 brought back all the childhood traumas of the Holocaust.

“I said it right away: This is the Holocaust. I screamed, ‘Why? Why? Why do people who endured the Holocaust have to go through the same thing in a country we founded and where we were so happy? How did the Holocaust happen again right in from of our eyes?” 

One of the 250 people kidnapped was Bella’s grandson, Yotam Haim. 

Yotam, 28, was taken from his home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Hamas’s own videos show him being led shirtless and surrounded by a hoard of terrorists, to a vehicle in a field. Bella, 86, became an active advocate and appeared at the Knesset several times to lobby for a deal that would bring the hostages’ release. 

Sadly, though Yotam managed to escape his captors in December 2023 along with two other hostages, but they were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in a tragic case of mistaken identity. 

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the staff of CBN Israel honored the 6 million victims of the Holocaust and we continue to stand with survivors, visiting with those who live in Israel, supporting this vulnerable population and helping them through the challenges of poverty and hunger. 

The Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, an umbrella group representing 50 organizations that assist Holocaust survivors, said that around one-third of Israel’s approximately 147,000 Holocaust survivors live in poverty.

This week, CBN Israel sponsored two memorial services in Israel in conjunction with The Association of Concentration Camps and Ghetto Survivors in Israel.

CBN Israel also supports Bella through the Neve Eshkol day center where Bella receives ongoing group activities, art therapy, hot meals, and the strength she needs to carry on. 

“I said to myself (after Yotam’s death), ‘What am I going to do now? How will I get up tomorrow morning? What am I going to do tomorrow? Where will I go? And here (at Neve Eshkol), I find the answer. I go to train with Michal, I exercise with Laura. I am keeping my brain active.” 

“We will return, all the people who are refugees in our own country will return. And here in Neve Eshkol we will hear music again and we will dance again,” she said. “I am Bella Haim, and I choose life.”

Through CBN Israel, you can give help and hope to Holocaust survivors throughout the Holy Land. You can also reach out to many other people in need with food, finances, and essentials, and letting them know they are not alone. 

Please join us in extending a hand to others!

GIVE TODAY

By Marc Turnage

Located two and a half miles north of Capernaum, Chorazin sits in the hills overlooking the lake of Galilee at 45-46 meters above sea level and 267-273 meters above the lake. Although only mentioned once in the Gospels (Matthew 11:21-24; Luke 10:13-16), Jesus cursed the village for not repenting when seeing the miracles he worked in its midst. He cursed Chorazin, along with Capernaum and Bethsaida. Incidentally, the land between these three villages, on the north shore of the lake of Galilee, covers much of the territory of Jesus’ ministry recorded in the Gospels. 

The distance of Chorazin from the lake meant that it did not participate directly in the fishing industry on the lake. We learn from rabbinic literature that Chorazin produced exceptional wheat. Excavations of the site reveal that the village, which began in the first century A.D., was a Jewish village.

The majority of the ruins one sees when visiting Chorazin today date from after the first century, but they reflect Jewish village life in the Galilee. The central structure from the later village is the synagogue. Built perhaps as early as the third century A.D., the basalt structure resembles the Galilean style synagogues excavated at places like Capernaum, Bar’am, Meiron, and Arbel. 

The synagogue sits in the center of the village. Worshippers entered the hall through three entrances from a large staircase on the south, which faces towards Jerusalem. Two tiers of benches line the two long aisles and the short wall opposite the entrance in a “U” shape. Inside the synagogue, the basalt stone, which is hard to fashion, bears carvings and decorations. 

Excavators uncovered pieces of what appears to be a Torah Ark, where biblical scrolls read in the synagogue were kept. They also discovered a basalt stone seat, which was known as the Seat of Moses (see Matthew 23:1-2; Luke 4:20). The chair bears a dedicatory inscription in Aramaic, which reads, “Remember for good Yudan son of Ishmael, who made (or donated) this stoa, and its steps from his property. May he have a portion with the righteous.” Recent excavations in the floor of this synagogue indicate that it may stand on an earlier public building, perhaps the first century synagogue. 

Although the ruins of Chorazin that one sees today date to after the first century, the site contains a number of features in the homes, installations, like a covered Jewish ritual immersion bath, and details within the synagogue that help to illustrate stories from the Gospels and the life and ministry of Jesus.

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 Julie Stahl

This month marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945. On this solemn day, we remember the 6 million Jewish men, women, and children who were killed by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

We also honor the survivors whose courage and resilience were shaped within the shadows and ashes of Europe’s extermination camps. This horrifying genocide gave those who lived the determination to declare, “Never Again.”

Yet, decades later, on October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists committed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, causing many allies of the Jewish people to firmly declare “Never again is now.”

Thousands of Hamas terrorists broke through Israel’s defenses by air, land, and sea in multiple locations along its southern border with Gaza.

In several communities the killing and devastation were so complete, Israeli archaeologists were called in to employ equipment and techniques—methods normally used for antiquities—to sift through the ashes to find human remains.

To make matters worse, in the days, weeks, and months following October 7, rather than rallying to the victim’s side with empathy and compassion, the international community exploded with Jew hatred and hostility toward the world’s only Jewish nation. 

May our eyes be open like never before to the urgent need and responsibility of every Christian to combat and stand against antisemitism, the world’s oldest hatred. 

Today, as we remember the victims of the Holocaust, may we also remember the 1,200 men, women, children, and babies who were brutally massacred on October 7. 

Let us continue to pray, speak up, and advocate for the Jewish nation and people—including the safe release of all hostages still being held captive by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

God bless you for your steadfast support of Israel and her people during these challenging and difficult days. 

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel full-time for more than 20 years. Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN—first as a graduate student in Journalism at Regent University; then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91; and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009. She is also an integral part of CBN News’ award-winning show, Jerusalem Dateline, a weekly news program providing a biblical and prophetic perspective to what is happening in Israel and the Middle East.

“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6 ESV). 

If someone asked you, “What matters most to God?”—how would you respond? 

We sometimes struggle to feel the impact of the words of Scripture because we do not belong to the world of the Bible. We do not understand worshiping God with sacrifices; we might think we do, but we don’t. Within the ancient world, sacrifices and altar worship provided a solemn connection between the people and God (or in the case of non-Israelites, their gods).

The words of Hosea struck his audience in a very specific way. God desired steadfast love more than sacrifices? The knowledge of Him more than burnt offerings? The prophet’s answer: Yes.

What matters most to God? Steadfast love and knowledge of Him. The term translated as “steadfast love” in Hebrew refers to covenant faithfulness, or covenant loyalty. In other words, obedience. It does not refer to an emotional feeling about God, but rather our steadfast and faithful obedience to Him. 

The deliberate construction of Hosea’s statement places “steadfast love” parallel to “knowledge of God.” This communicated something significant to Hosea’s reader: Demonstrating steadfast love to God is equivalent with the knowledge of God. In the Bible, one knows God by obeying Him. Obedience gives us knowledge of God, not theory or speculation. Therefore, if you want to know God, obey Him. 

But God also commanded the Israelites to sacrifice. We often read such declarations in the Bible through our lenses that do not value sacrifice, which reduces our reading of these passages to something binary—either this, or that. That is not what the prophet is saying. 

Sacrifices were important; God commanded them. The question wasn’t sacrifices or steadfast love; rather, it established a priority. Steadfast love matters more to God than sacrifices, but that did not negate sacrifices altogether. The point Hosea was making to his audience is that sacrifices were meaningless without obedience.

The same can be said for some of our religious practices today—including prayer, Bible reading, church attendance, singing worship songs, and the list goes on. These activities, while important, mean little to God if we do not also walk in obedience to Him.

So, what would you say if someone asked you, “What matters most to God?” May your answer be, “Let me show you by my obedience to Him,” and then let them see your steadfast love for God as you walk in His ways. 

PRAYER

Father, may we choose to walk in Your ways today, so that we might grow in our knowledge of You and live obediently to You in everything that we say and do. Amen.

Thanks to the generous support of friends like you, the staff of CBN Israel has been rolling up their sleeves to work alongside the nation’s largest food rescue program digging into the soil and planting produce that will eventually make it to the tables of Israel’s most needy.

This practical help has brought CBN Israel into the fields of Israel to get a taste of what the organization’s long-time partner, Leket Israel, does on a regular basis. Leket is Israel’s largest food bank which collects surplus nutritious food and redistributes it to at-risk populations.

Because of caring donors, CBN Israel can link arms with strategic partners like Leket, ensuring that perfectly edible food does not go to waste, but instead becomes a blessing to those in need.

According to the Israeli government, some 2.2 billion pounds of healthy and nutritious food are discarded each year. When Leket founder Joseph Gitler realized this after immigrating to Israel from America, he sought to remedy the problem and bridge the gap between available food and the nation’s poor.

The invaluable support of CBN Israel partners makes it possible to gather surplus produce from farmers and hot meals from hotels, company cafeterias, and army bases to redistribute to vulnerable populations around the country.

When Israelis were evacuated from southern Israel after October 7, donors also sponsored two large trucks that delivered 1.6 million pounds of rescued fresh fruit and vegetables along with 30,000 hot meals to people suffering from food insecurity during this time of war.

In these challenging times, you can let so many in desperate situations know they are not forgotten—by offering them essential food, clothing, housing, financial aid, and encouragement.

Please join us today in bringing help and hope to Israel’s most vulnerable citizens.

GIVE TODAY

By Marc Turnage

The site of Magdala sits a little over three miles north of Tiberias, on the southern edge of the plain of Gennesar, on the shore of the lake of Galilee.

Ancient sources seemingly refer to this site by three names; Greek and Latin sources refer to it as Taricheae; Hebrew and Aramaic sources use the names Magdala or Migdal Nunaya. Although a question remains whether all three names refer to the same site, many accept that they do. Since the Byzantine period (4^th-7^th centuries A.D.), tradition has identified this site as the home of Mary Magdalene, mentioned in the Gospels, but Mary’s connection with this site is by no means certain. 

The ancient sources written in Greek and Latin, dating to the 1^st century, refer to the site as Taricheae. Taricheae served as an important administrative center from the 1^st century B.C. into the 1^st century A.D. Its name in Greek refers to “factories (vats) for salting fish.” The city’s location on the shores of the lake of Galilee indicate that fishing and fish processing served as its primary industry. The administrative role of the city, as well as its size, suggest that its fishing and fish processing involved smaller villages that lay within its toparchy, like Capernaum. 

Gennesar (Gennesereth) is a large fertile plain on the northwest corner of the lake of Galilee. The name refers to the region of the fertile plain. Magdala functioned as the largest city and port serving the Gennesar Valley; thus, when Jesus arrives by boat to Gennesar (the region) in the Gospels, he likely used the port of Magdala. 

Archaeologists first excavated a small section of the site in the 1970s. Excavations since the 2000s have provided a number of significant finds that shed light on Jewish life around the lake of Galilee during the ministry of Jesus. Excavations have uncovered installations that likely served for the processing and salting of fish, indicating the identification of the site as Taricheae. They also uncovered a series of streets laid out in an urban grid pattern, and along some of these streets, houses were uncovered that speak to the wealth of the people that lived in them.

They were built with finely cut stones having mosaic tile floors. Pottery and glass vessels discovered in these homes further speak to the wealth of the inhabitants. These homes also had private Jewish ritual immersion baths (mikva’ot). Ground water filled and refilled these pools. Their presence is rather unique since the lake itself could serve Jewish ritual purity needs. The owners of these homes apparently desired a high degree of ritual purity, which required them to include private ritual immersion baths in their homes.

Excavations uncovered the ancient Hasmonean (1^st century B.C.) and early Roman (1^st century A.D.) harbor of Magdala. Pottery and coins provided a clear date for the structure, which had the mooring stones still in place. This harbor served the fishing industry of Magdala, as well as provided transit for travel around the lake. Magdala sits just below Mount Arbel, which overlooked a pass through which a road led from the northwest corner of the lake west into Galilee, and which could also be used by Galilean pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem. 

Excavators uncovered a modest public building, which they have identified as a synagogue. This building consists of three phases. The middle phase dates to the early-mid 1^st century A.D. This structure consists of an entrance with a narrow rectangular hall from the west, possibly a room for study known as a beit midrash. One passes from the entry vestibule into the main hall, which is surrounded on all sides by benches. This placed the focal point of the hall in the center of the room (this is a common layout for first century synagogues).

The aisles had mosaic floors, and the columns of the main hall were covered with frescoed plaster. The walls also had frescoes plaster upon them. In the center of the main hall, archaeologists discovered a stone with four short legs. This decorated stone preserves a number of images, the most striking of which is the seven branched menorah that resided in the Jerusalem Temple. The iconography of this stone seems to tie to the Temple in Jerusalem indicating that those in this synagogue connected their worship with the worship in the Temple. 

In the land of Israel in the 1^st century, the primary function of the synagogue was the reading and teaching of the Torah. We see this with Jesus in the Gospels. The layout and orientation of 1^st century synagogues in the land of Israel, like the one in Magdala, focus on the center of the hall where the Torah would be read and expounded upon. This stone discovered in Magdala has been identified as the base for a Torah reading stand. Jews read the Torah standing; they sit to teach (just like Jesus; see Luke 4:16-20). This decorated stone likely served as a base for a stand for the Torah reading, when all eyes would be fixed on the one reading and explicating the Torah (Luke 4:16-20).

The Gospels do not mention Jesus in Magdala. Yet, he sailed to the region of Gennesar where Magdala was located. He taught in all the synagogues of the villages and cities of Galilee. The Magdala synagogue dates from the time of his ministry; he could have taught there. Excavations at Magdala reveal that the population of the Galilee in the 1^st century was Jewish, and devout Jews at that. Some had wealth, but they adhered to Jewish concerns of purity and worship.

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