Current Events Articles: February 2019

ABR to Honor Dr. Bryant Wood at 2019 Friends of ABR Banquet posted by Bryan Windle

The Associates for Biblical Research are pleased to announce the details of this year's Friends of ABR Fundraising Banquet, to be held on Thursday, April 25, 2019 at Shady Maple Smorgasbord, 129 Toddy Dr., East Earl, PA. The doors open at 6pm and the banquet begins at 6:30pm. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Peter Teague, President of Lancaster Bible College. This year's banquet will have a very special focus as ABR honors the life and ministry of Dr. Bryant Wood, who has served with the Associates for Biblical Research since 1986. Dr. Wood's amazing career in archaeology, research, writing and teaching has profoundly impacted the Church, from the vaunted halls of academia to the pews of churches around the world.

So, mark your calendars now and join us for an evening full of encouragement and inspiration! The registration deadline is Tuesday, April 18, 2019 by 12:00 noon.

Link to Purchase Tickets:
https://www.biblearchaeology.org/support/banquettickets.aspx

More Details:
http://www.biblearchaeology.org/outreach/event.aspx?id=342

Coin of Herod Agrippa Discovered Near Shiloh posted by Bryan Windle

While on a class trip to the Shiloh Valley, an Israeli boy found a coin minted by King Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great. The 2000-year-old coin features three stalks of grain on one side, and the royal canopy along with Agrippa's name on the reverse side. In the book of Acts, it is Herod Agrippa who put James to death and imprisoned Peter.

ABR's Director of Excavations at Shiloh, Scott Stripling, released the following statement about the find:

Shiloh boasts a rich numismatic corpus, as evidenced by this find. The ABR excavation at Shiloh has yielded almost 200 coins, including this exact coin of Agrippa I. Dated to the sixth year of the reign of Agrippa I (AD 41/42), this coin provides a direct connection to the end of the Second Temple period. Agrippa I was close friends with Emperor Claudius, and this coin was minted in the first year of Claudius' reign. Agrippa's title on the obverse (front) of the coin is BASILEUS, the Greek word for "king." Three ears of barley adorn the coin's reverse. In AD 44 Agrippa I suffered a gruesome death as recorded in Acts 12:23 and Josephus (Antiquities 19.8.2).

Off-site Links:
- https://christiannews.net/2019/02/07/israeli-boy-on-school-trip-finds-ancient-coin-marked-with-inscription-king-agrippa-leader-who-killed-james-jailed-peter/
- https://www.timesofisrael.com/kid-on-school-trip-unearths-second-temple-era-coin-in-west-bank-stream/
- https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Rare-coin-from-Second-Temple-period-discovered-in-West-Bank-578791

New Trilingual Inscription from the Persian Period Found posted by Bryan Windle

A previously unknown inscription that had been covered by dirt and lichen for well over 2000 years was recently discovered at Naqsh-e Rustam in Iran. Naqsh-e Rustam is a necropolis near the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis that houses the tombs of Darius I (the Great), Xerxes I, Artaxerxes I, and Darius II. The newly uncovered inscription is trilingual, written in the Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian languages. It was discovered on the hill around the tomb of King Darius, and seems to reference a high-ranking Achaemenid official who was unknown to history. The inscription is of great interest to linguists, as it adds new verbs to all three ancient languages. In the Bible, King Darius is the Persian ruler who, after searching the archives of King Cyrus, authorized the reconstruction of the temple in Jerusalem to proceed, providing the supplies and funds needed (Ezra 4:24-6:15).

Off-site Links:

- http://www.iran-daily.com/News/238115.html
- https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2019/01/new-trilingual-inscription-discovered.html

Over 40 Mummies Discovered in Egyptian Tombs posted by Bryan Windle

Egypt has announced the discovery of more than 40 mummies in a maze of four burial chambers in the Tuna El-Gebel necropolis near Minya, Egypt. The remains of men, women and 12 children were found, some wrapped in linen and others in stone or wooden sarcophagi. A few of them still had the remnants of colored cartonnage near them. Officials from the Supreme Council of Antiquities believe that the tombs are likely a familial grave for upper-class individuals based on the mummification method. Writing on papyri and ostraca discovered in the tombs suggests the earliest of these date to the Ptolemaic era. In the Bible, Daniel prophesied about the Egyptian Ptolemaic "Kings of the South" (Dn 11) hundreds of years before they came to power.

Off-site Links:

- http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/324859/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Egypts-first-antiquities-discovery-of--Mummyfilled.aspx
- https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-in-photos-egypt-unveils-pharaonic-tomb-with-50-mummies-1.6898362
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47103114

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