Regular readers of THE MINISTRY will already know of the existence of The Biblical Archaeology Review (see MINISTRY, November, 1976, p. 28), but now that it has completed its third year of publication and thereby "shown its true colors," we wish to take this opportunity to re view its contribution and to urge our readers to subscribe.
The BAR's aim is "to make avail able in understandable language the current insights of professional archaeology as they relate to the Bible." Its editor, Washington, D.C., attorney Hershel Shanks, has succeeded admirably. The articles are consistently interesting and well written, often focusing on the new, the unusual, or the controversial. The information conveyed is up to date and authoritative, and usually balanced in terms of its presentation. Though the journal studiously avoids a particular religious slant, its basic approach might be considered "liberal," but with plenty of "conservative" reaction to keep things in balance. The periodical is well illustrated with maps, plans, charts, and photographs (including so far a beautiful color reproduction of a portion of the Madaba Mosaic Map of Palestine and some stunning, colorful views of Qumran, the Dead Sea scrolls, and scenes in the Sinai Peninsula).
Each quarterly issue contains from five to ten substantive articles that characteristically deal with important new discoveries, illuminate a Biblical text, continue a scholarly debate on a subject of vital general interest, or just cover important topics in a systematic fashion. Authors include such famous Israeli archeologists as Yigael Yadin, Yohanan Aharoni, and Nachman Avigad, and Americans Frank M. Cross, Paul Lapp, and Siegfried H, Horn.
The following important new discoveries have been shared with BAR readers: Beersheba's horned altar, the Philistine temple near Tel Aviv, the seal of Hezekiah's servant, the remains of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, eighth-century B.C. He brew and Phoenician inscriptions from the Sinai Desert, the oldest Hebrew inscription (from Izbet Sarte), Jerusalem's Cardo and Broad Wall (the latter probably built by Hezekiah about 700 B.C.), the earliest depiction of the Temple's menorah, or seven-branched lampstand, a rare bronze statue of Hadrian, a cuneiform tablet from Hazor mentioning the town's name, a bilingual inscription from Dan that reads "to God who is in Dan," Herod's winter palaces in Jericho, the possible discovery of Ophir in Saudi Arabia, and the huge new third-millennium B.C. archive of texts from Tell Mardikh or ancient Ebla.
Among the approximately seventy-five Biblical texts that I counted that were specifically illumined by BAR articles were the fol lowing: Rothenberg's Timna exca vations in the Sinai discovered evidence of a Midianite tented shrine that provides a good parallel to the tabernacle of Israel's desert wanderings mentioned in Exodus 26:7. One of its most stunning finds was a tiny cultic snake molded of copper and gilded, reminiscent of a similar snake in Numbers 21:9. On a recent trip to the Arabian Peninsula, Father Jamme discovered a list of South Arabian kings that dates back as far as the tenth century B.C., possibly providing a context for the Queen of Sheba mentioned in 1 Kings 10:1. First Kings 9:15 is dramatically confirmed by the discovery of Solomonic fortifications at Hazor, Gezer, and Megiddo. In Jerusalem, Mazar found a fragment of a stone vessel from the time of Jesus marked in Hebrew "corban," certainly to be connected with the concept in Mark 7:11. Some old Babylonian legal documents from 1,700 B.C. throw light on the reason for the patriarchs' grasping the circumcised membrum, the sign of the covenant, in an oath (Gen. 24:2-9; 47:29-31) it was to invoke the Divine Presence as witness to the gravity of the oath, much as Bibles are used in a court room today. Another difficult text has been 1 Samuel 18:3, 4. Why did Jonathan give David his clothes? A tablet from Ugarit makes clear that in this symbolic act a crown prince irrevocably yielded his right to the throne. And many, many more Bible passages are illumined as one reads through the first three years of BAR.
Articles that continue scholarly debates on subjects of general inter est include Glueck's claim to have found Solomon's copper mines and smelting furnace; the location of Debir (was Albright wrong?); the destruction of Shiloh; Jabin, king of Hazor, and the correct understanding of the relationship between Joshua 11 and Judges 4 and 5; Isaiah 7:14 (does it predict a virgin birth?); stables or storehouses at Megiddo and elsewhere; whether there was an Israelite conquest (or was it a gradual settlement?) and if so, what its date was; whether Beersheba's "high place" has been found; and the location of Abraham's Ur.
Among other interesting topics that receive systematic treatment are articles on King David as a builder, the age of the patriarchs and their customs, what happened to the ten lost tribes, living plants as archeological artifacts, anthropoid coffins, the search for Noah's ark, Hezekiah's tunnel, Herodian Jerusalem in the days of Jesus, the temple at Dor, papyrus, the Septuagint, the tribe of Dan, the tombs of Jesus (the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem) and Petex (St. Peter's in Rome), the cultural differences between the Israelites and their ancient Near Eastern contemporaries, using ancient Near Eastern parallels in Old Testament study, how archeologists date things and how they organize digs, how the Dead Sea scrolls were found and a description of the community of men who were responsible for them, and even an account of the U.S. Navy's exploration of the rift valley from the sources of the Jordan to the Dead Sea!
In addition to articles, BAR answers readers' questions, helps amateurs with definitions of terms, spellings, pronunciation, and basic bibliographies. It reviews important books (such as Leona G. Running's biography of Albright) and controversial books (such as Immanuel Velikovsky's redoing of ancient history). It publishes apt quotations and letters to the editor, which often serve to continue and correct discussion on questions of special interest. It announces deaths (e.g., G. Ernest Wright, Wendell Phillips, and Yohanan Aharoni); new personnel appointments of wide interest; where to get free books and magazines; how to save money on those you can't get free; where to get audio-visual aids; the commencement of new archeological journals or societies; meetings; conferences; museum exhibitions; Holy Land tours; and dig opportunities.
In short, BAR is the best way to keep up to date and informed on what's going on in the discipline of archeology as it relates to the Bible. Three years ago the quarterly s tarted out with 16 pages and a few hundred subscribers; now more than 11,000 subscribers get 56 pages at a time. Obviously it's doing something right! And now this three-year total of 500 pages is indexed according to subject and Scripture reference and is ready for shelving in a permanent binder available from the publisher.
Don't you wish you had been a charter subscriber? BAR is giving readers of THE MINISTRY a special break, but only until March 31, 1978. Though the yearly subscription rate is $14.00, by using the coupon below (or copying its wording) you can get your introductory suscription for 1978 for only $9.75—a saving of $4.25. Do it before you miss any more fascinating information that may be useful to you in your own ministry. We recommend it!
