We like to welcome you
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this evening to
"Digging Up the Future"
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Bible Prophecy Exposed.
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That was a catchy title to me,
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Digging Up the Future.
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You would usually
think of digging up the past.
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But as we're going to
learn in this seminar,
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the archeological evidence
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actually points not just
backwards but also forward.
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And this is like
a two part series.
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We have
archeology at the beginning
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and then we go right
into a prophecy seminar
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with Louie Torres.
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This evening our
guest will be Tony Moore.
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And Tony Moore has
traveled many places
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in the Middle East many times.
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He was just regaling me
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with stories a
little bit earlier
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as we ate at a local
Middle Eastern restaurant.
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And he was actually owing to me
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to some of the food here in town
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even though I had been to
the restaurant many times.
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So we're glad that you are here.
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We welcome you.
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We're glad that
you're our special guest
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Tony Moore is
here with us as well.
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Let's bow our heads and
just ask the Lord's presence
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as we begin this evening.
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Father in heaven,
we're indeed grateful
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that we can come and study,
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we can look to the future
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by looking at the
archeological evidence tonight.
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We just ask that
Your spirit would be here.
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In this meeting we
ask that You would be
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with our speaker and
with each person attending.
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And we come in the all powerful
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and most worthy name
of Jesus Christ, amen.
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We're delighted that
Rafael Scarfullery is with us.
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He is going to have a special
number for us "Rock of Ages."
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As we're gonna be
talking about some rocks,
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the most important
is that Rock of Ages.
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Wasn't that wonderful?
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Looking forward to hearing
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more from Rafael tomorrow
and actually later this evening.
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And he's gonna be with us
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for a number of
days in the seminar here
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and so thank you very much
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and God be praised
Rock of Ages clear for me.
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Let me tell you a
little bit about our speaker
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this evening.
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Tony Moore is,
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I guess I can't say a
long time acquaintance
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but he is someone I've
known about for quite sometime.
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Just recently,
he finished a series
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called The Footsteps of Paul,
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where he went through Turkey
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and went through the Middle East
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tracing the footsteps of Paul
and doing on location filming.
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And I had occasion to
look at the DVD that he created
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and as I looked at I became more
and more impressed with the work
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that Tony Moore has been doing.
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And I have been impressed
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with not only the
depth of the material
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but also the ease at
which you can understand it.
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And I think you'll
enjoy the presentations.
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He is gonna actually be
doing five presentations for us,
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this first one is going to
be looking at Fabulous Tales
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the Tel Tells and he'll explain
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what that title means to you
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if you haven't
already figure it out.
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And then later this evening
the Arab, the Jew and Jerusalem
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and we're gonna be
looking at some archeological
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finds and different things that
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I think will kind of even
open up in your mind perhaps
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current situations
there in Jerusalem.
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And then secrets of the Nile
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and then next the
footsteps of Jesus
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and then finally
when Iraq ruled or Iraq
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rather to be more correct
when Iraq ruled the world.
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So I think that's
gonna find this fascinating
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and also I'm delighted that
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Tony is going to making
available to you his notes.
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And so if you're listening
tonight and you'd say "man,
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I really would like to remember
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what he said about
this or about that."
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His notes will be available
and you can fill it a card
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and let us note
whether or not you want those.
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We're gonna be trying
to put together a binder
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for you that you
can keep these things
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and make that available to you
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in several days time if
you are interested in that.
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So I know that, you will join me
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in really enjoying this
mini series and archeology
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before we get into the series
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on Bible Prophecy
with Louie Torres.
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Now some of you may not know
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who Louie Torres is and
Louie Torres in the flier
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you will be
equally impressed with him.
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As he goes to Bible prophecy,
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as he starts to
look at those prophecies
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and the actual books
of Daniel and Revelation.
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Some of the things
will be seen archeology
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then we'll come alive
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as he goes through
those time prophecies
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with you as well.
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One other note as I see
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we have a little
bit more time here
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and that is
concerning our music as well.
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Dr. Scarfullery actually
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his name is that
just played for you
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he is originally
from Dominican Republic
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and he just finished his PhD
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in music
presentation and performance,
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actually he his doctorate.
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And he wrote a
fascinating dissertation
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he just told me about
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on the music of
the Dominican Republic.
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And he might be
willing to play some of that
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for on one of the
evenings I don't know.
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And he has some
several CDs out meditative
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and religious in nature
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and then also
some that are looking
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in that and more
classical themes.
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And I think that you'll
find those very enjoyable.
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We'll make them
available to you in the,
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in the near future.
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Well, it gives me
great joy this evening
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to welcome Tony Moore
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and he is going
to be sharing with us
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Tales the Tel is
going to tell us.
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Welcome, Tony.
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Thank you.
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Thank you so much pastor,
its great to be here in Wichita.
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I had to come and
warm up from California.
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They say California is hot.
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But when I flew in, yesterday,
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it was about a 15 to 20 degree
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difference in
temperature I believe.
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But anyway it's
wonderful to be here.
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I haven't, I'm not
too familiar with Kansas.
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I've driven
through a couple of times
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and been able to,
to see the great state.
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But my first time to Wichita
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and I'm looking forward to
being here for several days.
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How many of you
been to the holy land.
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You know, I don't
call it the holy land
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I call it the Bible Lands.
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For me there is
really not a lot holy there
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but it is a place
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where the story
of the Bible happens.
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So how many of you
been to the Bible Lands?
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Anyone been to the Bible Lands?
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How many of you been to Petra?
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Okay, well tonight
we're going to Petra
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which I think is my
favorite natural wonder
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or my favorite
manmade wonder in the world.
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People often ask me,
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Tony, all the
places you've been,
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what is the most spectacular?
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What's the most fantastic?
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And I have to say "that
Petra is the most beautiful
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manmade facility in the world,
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the most beautiful
manmade buildings in the world."
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We're gonna and maybe
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we get to look
at some other sites
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my favorite natural
wonder in the Bible Lands
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there's a place called
Pamukkale or Hierapolis
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and this is mentioned in
the book of the Colossians
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and it's just a
fabulous site of the mountain.
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It's all white
with mineral deposits
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but tonight we're
gonna be going to Petra.
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We're gonna look at
Fabulous Tales the Tel Tells.
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And what is the Tel anyway?
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Before we get
started what is the Tel?
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Any idea? No.
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You came to this program,
didn't know what a Tel was.
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Well, I'm gonna tell
you tonight, what to Tel is?
00:11:27.82\00:11:31.22
A Tel is actually a
mount of debris or ruin.
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It's where the ancient city
or the ancient town used to be.
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And we're gonna
talk about that tonight.
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We're gonna
survey several sites.
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We're gonna look at some
sites in Syria and Turkey.
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And tonight we're
gonna start at Jordan.
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But tonight I'm gonna take you
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on the screen to Petra,
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"a rose-red city
half as old as time."
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Those words where immortalized
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by Dean Burgon in
his prize poem of 1845.
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Few sites have
captured our imagination
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or stirred our
sets of imagination
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as much as the
ancient Nabataean city,
00:12:05.20\00:12:08.05
carved out of the red
rock in south western Jordon.
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From the first time I
heard about this ancient city
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I had a deep desire to visit
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what was purported to
be the most spectacular
00:12:16.11\00:12:18.27
ruins on earth
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because of its
location in the rocks.
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It was first called the cela
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a simmetic word
meaning the rock.
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In later times, it
received its Greek name
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Petra which
means the same thing.
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And my first trip down to Petra
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I started out in Amman
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and it's a three hour
drive down the dessert highway.
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And it was amazing
00:12:38.33\00:12:39.36
because we were snaking our way
00:12:39.39\00:12:40.84
through 100s of trucks loaded
00:12:40.87\00:12:43.01
from the countries
only port at Aqaba.
00:12:43.04\00:12:45.52
Now this car was
bound for Kuwait.
00:12:45.55\00:12:47.83
It's so loaded.
00:12:47.86\00:12:48.89
It looks like it
might just fall over.
00:12:48.92\00:12:51.57
And occasionally
as you drive around
00:12:51.60\00:12:53.06
in this farther world you
see more interesting cargo.
00:12:53.09\00:12:55.98
Now you see that often
here in Kansas, don't you?
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Well, our first stop was at
Ain Musa the spring of Moses
00:12:59.97\00:13:02.75
where a local traditions
says, Moses struck the rock
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and the water
began to gush forth.
00:13:05.92\00:13:08.64
Actually the Edomites
refused to allow Moses
00:13:08.67\00:13:11.58
and the children of Israel
to pass through their territory
00:13:11.61\00:13:14.25
and so they have to
go all the way around
00:13:14.28\00:13:17.00
through the land of
Moab to the Promised Land.
00:13:17.03\00:13:19.18
This started a long
often bitter animosity
00:13:19.21\00:13:22.86
between the children of
Jacob and the children of Esau
00:13:22.89\00:13:26.73
that continues to this day.
00:13:26.76\00:13:28.85
And none the less,
the spring and wadi
00:13:28.88\00:13:31.62
which flows in the spring
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were named after
the Prophet Moses.
00:13:33.25\00:13:35.29
At the insistence
of the local hotelier
00:13:35.32\00:13:37.95
my wife inspected the room
00:13:37.98\00:13:39.99
and refused it at any price.
00:13:40.02\00:13:42.64
You see,
00:13:42.67\00:13:43.80
the shower was directly
above the Turkish toilet.
00:13:43.83\00:13:47.87
Do you know what
the Turkish toilet is?
00:13:47.90\00:13:50.35
A hole in the floor.
00:13:50.38\00:13:51.88
Okay, we'll go on.
00:13:51.91\00:13:54.61
So anyway we found more
comfortable accommodations
00:13:54.64\00:13:57.70
here at the
government rest house.
00:13:57.73\00:13:59.51
This was
fascinating because the rooms
00:13:59.54\00:14:02.08
were actually built in
the ancient tombs themselves.
00:14:02.11\00:14:06.39
And so you'll
actually get to stay
00:14:06.42\00:14:08.26
in the ancient
tombs of the Nabataeans.
00:14:08.29\00:14:10.61
And so it was a
fascinating place to stay there.
00:14:10.64\00:14:12.82
After a goodnight
sleep we were up early
00:14:12.85\00:14:14.78
and because we wanted go out
00:14:14.81\00:14:16.24
and to see the ruins
that are just so spectacular.
00:14:16.27\00:14:20.49
Off in the distance you
can actually see Mount Hor.
00:14:20.52\00:14:23.13
Do you remember
what Mount Hor is?
00:14:23.16\00:14:24.90
That's the traditional place
00:14:24.93\00:14:26.47
of Aaron the
brother of Moses burial.
00:14:26.50\00:14:29.15
His tomb can be
seen off in the distance
00:14:29.18\00:14:32.34
where we enjoyed scouting out
00:14:32.37\00:14:34.96
through the mountain peaks,
00:14:34.99\00:14:36.02
some of them reaching over
3,500 feet above the foothills.
00:14:36.05\00:14:40.33
A summit name Um al-Biyara
by the Arabs can also be seen.
00:14:40.36\00:14:44.84
It means, "Mother of Cisterns"
00:14:44.87\00:14:47.31
because this is a place
00:14:47.34\00:14:49.08
where the Edomites the
descendants of Jacob lived
00:14:49.11\00:14:51.68
of Esau lived.
00:14:51.71\00:14:53.00
And they carved cisterns
on the top of that mountain
00:14:53.03\00:14:55.96
to capture the few inches
of rain that fall each year.
00:14:55.99\00:15:00.38
Because of its location
at the top of this mountain,
00:15:00.41\00:15:03.92
it seemed like it would
be and impregnable fortress.
00:15:03.95\00:15:08.56
Yep, the Hebrew Prophet Jeremiah
00:15:08.59\00:15:10.43
predicted downfall of the people
00:15:10.46\00:15:12.39
who lived up on
top of Mount Seir.
00:15:12.42\00:15:15.16
Notice what the Bible says,
00:15:15.19\00:15:16.50
Jeremiah 49:16
00:15:16.53\00:15:20.00
"'You who live in
the clefts of the rocks,
00:15:20.03\00:15:22.40
who occupy the
heights of the hill.
00:15:22.43\00:15:25.01
Though you build your
nest as high as the eagle's,
00:15:25.04\00:15:28.24
from there I
will bring you down,'
00:15:28.27\00:15:30.91
declares the Lord."
00:15:30.94\00:15:33.08
This prophecy met
a marked fulfillment
00:15:33.11\00:15:35.89
as the Edomites disappeared
from the stage of history.
00:15:35.92\00:15:40.00
They were
replaced by the Nabateans
00:15:40.03\00:15:42.89
who carved the fantastic
00:15:42.92\00:15:45.16
and wonderful
temples and tombs of Petra.
00:15:45.19\00:15:48.40
Well, the view was
splendid from up high
00:15:48.43\00:15:51.13
but we've not come
to see the mountains
00:15:51.16\00:15:53.56
we had come to visit
the ruins of the Nabateans.
00:15:53.59\00:15:56.52
Start up taking the long trial
00:15:56.55\00:15:58.52
back to the
government rest house
00:15:58.55\00:15:59.92
and running
horses like most tourists
00:15:59.95\00:16:01.95
I convinced my wife to join me
00:16:01.98\00:16:04.61
as we climbed
down the 300 foot cliff
00:16:04.64\00:16:07.34
down to the wadi below.
00:16:07.37\00:16:08.95
Now as we went down,
00:16:08.98\00:16:10.03
we deposited blood on the rocks
00:16:10.06\00:16:11.64
and it was quite exciting
00:16:11.67\00:16:13.06
it just added to
our sense of excitement
00:16:13.09\00:16:15.80
as we were about to go in
00:16:15.83\00:16:16.92
and see these
fabulous ruins in Petra.
00:16:16.95\00:16:20.65
Entrance into
this city is obtained
00:16:20.68\00:16:22.77
through a few narrow
rock gorges called wadis.
00:16:22.80\00:16:27.29
Now wadi is a dry river bed.
00:16:27.32\00:16:29.88
Its dry most of the year
but when the winter rains come
00:16:29.91\00:16:32.51
it fills up with water.
00:16:32.54\00:16:35.82
And so you can see
00:16:35.85\00:16:37.13
that it's very, very
difficult to climb up besides
00:16:37.16\00:16:41.29
and there's little
narrow road going down.
00:16:41.32\00:16:44.04
Once in a while flash
floods would come through.
00:16:44.07\00:16:46.98
About 25 years ago a
flash flood came through
00:16:47.01\00:16:50.03
and it caught a
group of British tourists.
00:16:50.06\00:16:52.70
Twenty of them lost their lives.
00:16:52.73\00:16:54.89
Now the water has been
directed underneath the mountain
00:16:54.92\00:16:59.14
and it comes out inside the city
00:16:59.17\00:17:00.54
so its very, very
safe to travel there.
00:17:00.57\00:17:03.70
The rainfalls in the winter time
00:17:03.73\00:17:06.43
as I said about
12 inches per years.
00:17:06.46\00:17:08.95
So it's very, very
dry except for that
00:17:08.98\00:17:11.22
that winter time rains.
00:17:11.25\00:17:13.30
Now the Wadi Musa
winds through the mountains
00:17:13.33\00:17:16.04
forever a mile and a
half about 8,000 feet.
00:17:16.07\00:17:19.66
The Arabs called this narrow,
00:17:19.69\00:17:21.91
this narrow area
the Siq or the cleft
00:17:21.94\00:17:27.07
most of the places
it's about 60 feet wide.
00:17:27.10\00:17:30.12
And some places it
goes down to 20 feet wide.
00:17:30.15\00:17:32.86
And as you wander through it,
00:17:32.89\00:17:34.38
it is just a
fabulous experience.
00:17:34.41\00:17:37.15
The perpendicular
walls go up on each side
00:17:37.18\00:17:39.70
about 160 feet high.
00:17:39.73\00:17:42.26
It can be verily seen
that a city that will be hidden
00:17:42.29\00:17:45.45
in the mountains like this
00:17:45.48\00:17:47.11
and accessed only by a
few narrow wadis like this
00:17:47.14\00:17:50.66
that are few
soldiers could be upon the top
00:17:50.69\00:17:53.68
and defend themselves
00:17:53.71\00:17:54.78
against
thousands of their enemies.
00:17:54.81\00:17:57.23
And that's exactly
why they moved to Petra.
00:17:57.26\00:18:00.39
The light of the sun
is nearly blocked out
00:18:00.42\00:18:02.79
as you wander down the water
as you walk down to the coolness
00:18:02.82\00:18:07.87
many twists and turns
00:18:07.90\00:18:09.41
through the
beautiful sandstorm mountains
00:18:09.44\00:18:11.32
you come into a narrow
opening just nine feet wide.
00:18:11.35\00:18:15.44
And I know of
nothing to equal the site
00:18:15.47\00:18:18.11
when you first see
the rock cut facade
00:18:18.14\00:18:21.95
as you pass through that
narrow nine foot opening.
00:18:21.98\00:18:25.37
The brilliance of the
sunshine upon the Red-Rose Rock
00:18:25.40\00:18:28.12
is breathtaking.
00:18:28.15\00:18:29.78
It's called Al Khazneh
which means the treasury.
00:18:29.81\00:18:33.26
It was carved in the Greeks
style from the living rock.
00:18:33.29\00:18:36.42
The two storeys were there.
00:18:36.45\00:18:38.29
Corinthians columns
were over 90 feet tall.
00:18:38.32\00:18:42.36
Being on points
secluded from wind and rain
00:18:42.39\00:18:45.57
the beautiful
lines of the architecture
00:18:45.60\00:18:47.79
is still clear and fresh.
00:18:47.82\00:18:49.68
All though the sculpture
has suffered quite a bit
00:18:49.71\00:18:51.73
from human hands.
00:18:51.76\00:18:53.16
Now, Petra has no
great significance
00:18:53.19\00:18:55.78
for the archaeologists
00:18:55.81\00:18:57.27
but for the
lover of art and beauty
00:18:57.30\00:18:59.60
nothing more
spectacular can be seen anywhere
00:18:59.63\00:19:02.54
except in Kansas.
00:19:02.57\00:19:04.07
Actually, it's not
a treasury or temple
00:19:04.10\00:19:07.62
it's actually a tomb.
00:19:07.65\00:19:09.86
The Arabs call it Al Khazneh,
00:19:09.89\00:19:11.60
Al Faroun or Pharaohs treasury.
00:19:11.63\00:19:14.45
Now this erroneous
concept of that being a treasury
00:19:14.48\00:19:18.72
has caused countless
people to take rifle shots
00:19:18.75\00:19:22.02
at the little top on
the urn through the years.
00:19:22.05\00:19:24.99
The room and the treasury
is very small and unimposing
00:19:25.02\00:19:29.69
and we're looking back
at it here on the screen
00:19:29.72\00:19:32.01
quite unlike
that fictitious room
00:19:32.04\00:19:34.40
that was Indiana Jones movie
of Indiana Jones and Holy Grail,
00:19:34.43\00:19:38.90
where we paused to
take a look back at the Siq
00:19:38.93\00:19:41.48
before we continue our
journey into the city of Petra.
00:19:41.51\00:19:45.05
As we proceed down the wadi
00:19:45.08\00:19:46.83
we see over a 1,000s
buildings carved into the rocks,
00:19:46.86\00:19:50.67
tombs, temples, dwellings.
00:19:50.70\00:19:53.33
Some have eroded with the rain
00:19:53.36\00:19:54.63
over a period of time
00:19:54.66\00:19:55.69
others are still preserved
in very good condition.
00:19:55.72\00:19:58.47
The urn tomb is a
very imposing monument
00:19:58.50\00:20:00.87
with an open
courtyard and colonies
00:20:00.90\00:20:02.84
little cut into the rock.
00:20:02.87\00:20:04.32
The facade of the
tomb is quite impressive
00:20:04.35\00:20:06.42
especially with its simplicity
00:20:06.45\00:20:08.05
and the great
height of its pilasters
00:20:08.08\00:20:09.81
and comparison with its width.
00:20:09.84\00:20:12.22
Next is the Corinthian tomb,
00:20:12.25\00:20:13.89
now the Corinthian
tomb is so badly weathered,
00:20:13.92\00:20:16.22
it's barely recognizable
00:20:16.25\00:20:18.31
but it is still a
fabulous site to see.
00:20:18.34\00:20:21.95
High above the city is
another gigantic monument.
00:20:21.98\00:20:25.97
It was fashioned not by
carving in the mountain site
00:20:26.00\00:20:30.49
but they actually hewing
away the mountain itself.
00:20:30.52\00:20:34.69
The size is enormous,
00:20:34.72\00:20:36.11
the doorway more
than 30 feet high as it,
00:20:36.14\00:20:38.76
it was to be used
by a race of giants.
00:20:38.79\00:20:41.84
Every inch was cut with
the most careful detail.
00:20:41.87\00:20:44.47
The temple is called Ad Deir
00:20:44.50\00:20:46.51
which means the Monastery.
00:20:46.54\00:20:48.44
It was one of the most
sacred shrines of the city.
00:20:48.47\00:20:50.90
From the top of Ad Deir
00:20:50.93\00:20:52.33
they designed an imposing
monument, a stone vase or urn.
00:20:52.36\00:20:57.66
And you can actually
climb up on the top of this
00:20:57.69\00:20:59.80
and you'll have
splendid view of the Wadi Araba
00:20:59.83\00:21:02.32
that descends
down from the Dead Sea.
00:21:02.35\00:21:04.90
It's a fabulous place to visit.
00:21:04.93\00:21:08.24
The temples and tombs
are striking in their beauty.
00:21:08.27\00:21:12.50
You can see these fairy
land veins of good red and blue.
00:21:12.53\00:21:17.82
And the rocks
are just spectacular.
00:21:17.85\00:21:20.10
Yes, it's a
wonderful place to visit.
00:21:20.13\00:21:22.35
Well, as we go through the city
00:21:22.38\00:21:23.54
we pass by the theater
00:21:23.57\00:21:25.91
cut out of the
rocks by the Romans.
00:21:25.94\00:21:27.52
It's seated over 3,000 people
00:21:27.55\00:21:29.58
with a caustic it's so wonderful
00:21:29.61\00:21:31.15
you did not have to
raise your voice to be heard.
00:21:31.18\00:21:34.38
And up the steps we
come up to the high place
00:21:34.41\00:21:37.80
on top of the Acropolis.
00:21:37.83\00:21:39.75
This is a place
where people would go
00:21:39.78\00:21:42.50
to do their
sacrifices to the sun god.
00:21:42.53\00:21:45.96
Channels hidden
found here in the altar
00:21:45.99\00:21:48.69
where the blood of
both animals and humans
00:21:48.72\00:21:51.82
is believed to have drained.
00:21:51.85\00:21:54.00
Yes, Petra was a fabulous place,
00:21:54.03\00:21:56.75
well watered, protected,
00:21:56.78\00:21:59.82
yet it was
deserted and forgotten
00:21:59.85\00:22:01.81
for over six centuries.
00:22:01.84\00:22:04.88
It seemed to be a legendary city
00:22:04.91\00:22:07.50
known only from the
records of the past.
00:22:07.53\00:22:09.85
Could you believe
what the Greeks and Romans
00:22:09.88\00:22:11.63
wrote about Petra?
00:22:11.66\00:22:12.93
No one was sure, no
one knew for certain.
00:22:12.96\00:22:15.76
Until 1812
00:22:18.53\00:22:21.52
when a young Swiss explorer
named John Lewis Burckhardt
00:22:21.55\00:22:26.10
stumbled upon
the ruins of Petra.
00:22:26.13\00:22:28.88
He was exploring the Middle East
00:22:28.91\00:22:30.19
on behalf of a
lernende British society.
00:22:30.22\00:22:33.30
He journeyed
from Damascus to Cairo
00:22:33.33\00:22:35.25
a very hazardous
undertaking in those days.
00:22:35.28\00:22:37.92
He dressed himself as an Arab
00:22:37.95\00:22:39.29
and as he
proceeded slowly down the way
00:22:39.32\00:22:41.48
he began to hear about
some extraordinary ruins
00:22:41.51\00:22:44.90
hidden away in the mountains.
00:22:44.93\00:22:46.70
He began to wonder
00:22:46.73\00:22:47.90
if this could be
the last ruins of Petra.
00:22:47.93\00:22:51.78
He first
mentions it in his journal
00:22:51.81\00:22:53.60
on August the 22nd.
00:22:53.63\00:22:55.01
It studies very, the
desire as to visit the ruins
00:22:55.04\00:22:58.70
of what Wadi Musa
and its antiquities
00:22:58.73\00:23:00.95
of which he
heard the people speak.
00:23:00.98\00:23:02.75
Notice from his journal he said
00:23:02.78\00:23:04.14
"The road from Shobak to Aqaba,
00:23:04.17\00:23:06.23
which is tolerably good
lies to the east of Wadi Musa,
00:23:06.26\00:23:10.12
and to have quitted it
00:23:10.15\00:23:11.18
out of mere
curiosity to see the Wadi
00:23:11.21\00:23:13.30
would have looked suspicious
00:23:13.33\00:23:14.96
in the eyes of the Arabs.
00:23:14.99\00:23:17.07
I, therefore,
pretended to have made a vow
00:23:17.10\00:23:19.47
to have slaughtered a
goat in honor of Aaron,
00:23:19.50\00:23:22.13
whose tomb I knew was situated
00:23:22.16\00:23:24.52
at the extremity of the valley,
00:23:24.55\00:23:26.99
and by this strategy
00:23:27.02\00:23:28.51
I thought that I should have
the means of seeing the valley
00:23:28.54\00:23:31.36
on my way to the tomb.
00:23:31.39\00:23:33.19
To this my guide
had nothing to oppose,
00:23:33.22\00:23:35.61
the dread of drawing
on himself, by resistance,
00:23:35.64\00:23:38.25
the wrath of Aaron
completely silenced him."
00:23:38.28\00:23:42.46
Well, when he reached Ain Musa
00:23:42.49\00:23:44.17
the spring of Moses he was
press to make a sacrifice here
00:23:44.20\00:23:47.11
because you could see
00:23:47.14\00:23:48.57
the tomb of Aaron
in off in the distance
00:23:48.60\00:23:50.14
and that's what most people did.
00:23:50.17\00:23:51.36
But he said no.
00:23:51.39\00:23:52.42
I want to
actually go out to the tomb
00:23:52.45\00:23:53.57
and make my sacrifice there.
00:23:53.60\00:23:55.35
Finally, he found a guide
00:23:55.38\00:23:57.15
who would take him and someone
00:23:57.18\00:23:58.21
who would carry
the necessary water
00:23:58.24\00:24:00.57
and then lead the goat.
00:24:00.60\00:24:01.95
And they began to set off,
00:24:01.98\00:24:03.86
off into the distance.
00:24:03.89\00:24:05.70
He was overwhelmed
to begin to traverse
00:24:05.73\00:24:08.22
through the Wadi Musa.
00:24:08.25\00:24:10.19
Somehow he managed to
get a plan of the treasury
00:24:10.22\00:24:12.76
and the urn and
the Corinthian tombs.
00:24:12.79\00:24:14.52
And he crossed over to
get a plan of the Roman temple
00:24:14.55\00:24:17.14
and his guide began to accuse
him of being a treasure hunter
00:24:17.17\00:24:20.49
and begin to
threaten him with his rifl
00:24:20.52\00:24:22.39
and so we had to press on.
00:24:22.42\00:24:24.30
He made his sacrifice
00:24:24.33\00:24:26.08
returned to the town
Elgin and in the darkness
00:24:26.11\00:24:30.55
and didn't get to
see anymore of the ruins.
00:24:30.58\00:24:32.85
But this is what
he wrote in his diary.
00:24:32.88\00:24:35.37
He said "it
appears very probable
00:24:35.40\00:24:38.29
that the ruins in Wadi
Musa are those of ancient Petra,
00:24:38.32\00:24:42.01
and it is
remarkable that Eusebius says
00:24:42.04\00:24:44.82
that the tomb of
Aaron was shown near Petra."
00:24:44.85\00:24:48.56
How could such a fantastic city
00:24:48.59\00:24:51.64
as this be lost
for over 600 years?
00:24:51.67\00:24:56.41
Well, originally the
region was settled by Edomites
00:24:56.44\00:24:58.81
the descendents of Esau.
00:24:58.84\00:25:00.75
They were overrun and
replaced by the Arab Nabataeans
00:25:00.78\00:25:03.60
the descendents of Ishmael.
00:25:03.63\00:25:05.60
The Nabataeans made
Petra a rich caravan city.
00:25:05.63\00:25:09.51
Since their
territory stretched from Aqaba
00:25:09.54\00:25:11.67
and the Gulf of
Aqaba on the Red Sea
00:25:11.70\00:25:13.33
all the way to Damascus,
00:25:13.36\00:25:14.92
they controlled the
strategic desert highway
00:25:14.95\00:25:17.96
which by the way is
still called the Kings Highway
00:25:17.99\00:25:21.08
even to this day.
00:25:21.11\00:25:23.00
They control that and
at first they'd go out
00:25:23.03\00:25:24.74
and they'd raid the caravans
00:25:24.77\00:25:27.03
but then they came
over the better idea.
00:25:27.06\00:25:28.37
Why I should we
raid the caravans
00:25:28.40\00:25:30.05
why don't we protect
the caravans for a fee?
00:25:30.08\00:25:34.05
And those fees
made them a rich people
00:25:34.08\00:25:37.80
and that's how they build
00:25:37.83\00:25:39.16
all of these
fantastic tombs and temples.
00:25:39.19\00:25:43.08
Well, once the sea lanes
around Africa were discovered
00:25:43.11\00:25:46.90
there was no longer any reason
to have all the caravan traffic
00:25:46.93\00:25:50.13
and so the trade routes changed
00:25:50.16\00:25:52.20
and soon Petra
was forgotten about.
00:25:52.23\00:25:54.92
It had been
erased from the memory
00:25:54.95\00:25:57.12
for six centuries.
00:25:57.15\00:25:59.19
And yet the Bible had
mentioned the land of Edom,
00:25:59.22\00:26:02.83
Scripture had said
"This is what the Sovereign
00:26:02.86\00:26:05.54
Lord says about Edom,
00:26:05.57\00:26:07.60
You who live in
the clefts of the rocks
00:26:07.63\00:26:09.60
and make your
home on the heights,
00:26:09.63\00:26:11.37
you who say to yourself,
00:26:11.40\00:26:12.80
'Who can bring me
down to the ground?'
00:26:12.83\00:26:15.38
Though you soar like the eagle
00:26:15.41\00:26:17.38
and make your
nest among the stars,
00:26:17.41\00:26:19.46
from there I
will bring you down.
00:26:19.49\00:26:21.97
There will be no survivors
from the house of Esau.
00:26:22.00\00:26:25.61
The Lord has spoken."
00:26:25.64\00:26:28.35
You know it was seen
00:26:28.38\00:26:29.41
that the city is
so well protective.
00:26:29.44\00:26:32.90
So well protected is
this which survive forever
00:26:32.93\00:26:36.23
but the prophet had
predicted the downfall
00:26:36.26\00:26:38.99
of the city of Petra.
00:26:39.02\00:26:40.63
By rejecting the
message of the prophets
00:26:40.66\00:26:43.30
the people became
more and more corrupt
00:26:43.33\00:26:45.04
until ultimately they
sacrificed human beings
00:26:45.07\00:26:49.27
on their high place.
00:26:49.30\00:26:50.66
And history shows a remarkable
fulfillment of the prophecy
00:26:50.69\00:26:54.02
as the Edomites are no more.
00:26:54.05\00:26:55.33
The proud fortress of Petra
00:26:55.36\00:26:56.73
disappeared for over 600 years.
00:26:56.76\00:26:59.05
As the archeologists
quietly uncover the past
00:26:59.08\00:27:02.38
and ancient
tombs and buried cities
00:27:02.41\00:27:04.93
they're finding
more and more evidence
00:27:04.96\00:27:07.05
that the smallest
details of scripture
00:27:07.08\00:27:09.32
are fact and not fiction.
00:27:09.35\00:27:11.70
Indeed the spade
of the archeologist
00:27:11.73\00:27:14.67
confirms the Bible.
00:27:14.70\00:27:16.96
Archeology is a recent science
00:27:16.99\00:27:19.12
it's not geology
the study of the earth
00:27:19.15\00:27:21.80
and nor is it anthropology
00:27:21.83\00:27:23.87
the study of the
development of man.
00:27:23.90\00:27:25.94
Archeology is a science
that looks at the artifacts
00:27:25.97\00:27:28.74
and remains of human beings.
00:27:28.77\00:27:30.58
And biblical archeology that
we we're talking about tonight
00:27:30.61\00:27:33.35
it really looks
back at the people
00:27:33.38\00:27:36.17
in Bible times and lands
00:27:36.20\00:27:38.18
and their remains
and their artifacts.
00:27:38.21\00:27:41.60
Now interesting
the Bible lands says
00:27:41.63\00:27:43.18
ebbed and flowed
through the years.
00:27:43.21\00:27:45.67
After the conversion of
Constantine's mother Helena
00:27:45.70\00:27:48.68
people began to
go to the Bible lands
00:27:48.71\00:27:50.37
because they felt
they go on pilgrimage
00:27:50.40\00:27:52.27
and receive salvation.
00:27:52.30\00:27:54.36
Well, that kind of past
00:27:54.39\00:27:55.69
by when the time of renaissance
00:27:55.72\00:27:57.55
when the
reformation came because
00:27:57.58\00:27:59.12
we didn't need to go there
to receive salvation anymore.
00:27:59.15\00:28:02.13
They believe you
could go right to Jesus
00:28:02.16\00:28:03.72
and receive salvation
00:28:03.75\00:28:05.06
and so they kind of
lost interest in it.
00:28:05.09\00:28:06.86
But as they began
to read their Bibles
00:28:06.89\00:28:09.75
and sing in their hymn books,
00:28:09.78\00:28:11.73
they began to wonder
what where these places like.
00:28:11.76\00:28:15.08
And so explorers began to
go and they were coming back
00:28:15.11\00:28:17.71
with a cursory understanding
of the Bible lands.
00:28:17.74\00:28:21.81
It was a fascinating
story during the Renaissance
00:28:21.84\00:28:25.65
treasure hunters
began to filter the land
00:28:25.68\00:28:27.71
they were
seeking valuable pieces
00:28:27.74\00:28:29.53
that could be sold on
the antiquities market.
00:28:29.56\00:28:33.65
And they really
were not interested
00:28:33.68\00:28:37.54
in trying to understand the land
00:28:37.57\00:28:39.17
but just to get
things that they could sell
00:28:39.20\00:28:41.27
and then Napoleon invaded Egypt.
00:28:41.30\00:28:44.46
And Napoleons invasion of Egypt
00:28:44.49\00:28:46.32
created a sensational desire
to understand these lands.
00:28:46.35\00:28:50.05
Then they
discovered the Rosetta Stone
00:28:50.08\00:28:51.55
and they were able to understand
the ancient hieroglyphics
00:28:51.58\00:28:54.64
and it fueled all
types of under of desire
00:28:54.67\00:28:58.03
to understand the Bible lands.
00:28:58.06\00:29:01.49
As the language is of the past
00:29:01.52\00:29:02.86
was resurrected interest
was fueled in antiquities
00:29:02.89\00:29:06.01
but there were no
trained excavators.
00:29:06.04\00:29:08.31
In 1850 Edwin
Robinson was standing here
00:29:08.34\00:29:11.69
at the spring of Jericho
00:29:11.72\00:29:13.95
and so as he was standing
at the spring of Jericho
00:29:13.98\00:29:15.84
he looked over and he
told his friend he said
00:29:15.87\00:29:18.13
"I wonder where the
ancient city of Jericho is."
00:29:18.16\00:29:21.05
Now you have to realize
00:29:21.08\00:29:22.11
if you ever been to
the spring of Jericho
00:29:22.14\00:29:23.85
about a 100 feet
from it was a large hill.
00:29:23.88\00:29:26.88
He didn't realize that
the ancient city of Jericho
00:29:26.91\00:29:29.45
was under the hill.
00:29:29.48\00:29:32.01
And so he said where it
could be that he didn't know.
00:29:32.04\00:29:35.40
In 1860 they began to
excavate the tombs in Jerusalem
00:29:35.43\00:29:38.96
and again they were
just destroying things
00:29:38.99\00:29:40.44
as they were looking
things to bring back to Europe
00:29:40.47\00:29:43.33
and sell on the
antiquities market.
00:29:43.36\00:29:45.74
Sir William Flinders
Petrie went down to Egypt
00:29:45.77\00:29:48.00
and he began to
measure and study the pyramids.
00:29:48.03\00:29:50.72
And in the
process he became enamored
00:29:50.75\00:29:52.70
with the relics of antiquity
00:29:52.73\00:29:53.94
he became a
stellar Egyptologist.
00:29:53.97\00:29:56.27
Painted pottery from
the past had been used
00:29:56.30\00:29:58.45
for many for a long time to
actually be able to correlate
00:29:58.48\00:30:03.25
periods of human history.
00:30:03.28\00:30:05.39
And he began to wonder
00:30:05.42\00:30:06.97
could we also use
the unpainted pottery.
00:30:07.00\00:30:09.48
These broken pieces of potsherds
00:30:09.51\00:30:11.59
that are found in such abundance
00:30:11.62\00:30:12.80
in the Palestinian tels,
00:30:12.83\00:30:14.05
could we use these to
take civilizations too.
00:30:14.08\00:30:16.69
And so he began to dig
down in Gaza, Tell el-Hesi.
00:30:16.72\00:30:20.22
A Wadi had actually
carved away a section of the,
00:30:20.25\00:30:23.11
of the tel and he began to see
00:30:23.14\00:30:25.06
all of these various layers
00:30:25.09\00:30:27.05
and he wondered
what does all this mean.
00:30:27.08\00:30:30.75
Could he establish
the occupational history
00:30:30.78\00:30:33.38
of the mount?
00:30:33.41\00:30:34.44
Well, indeed they excavated
00:30:34.47\00:30:36.08
and they were able to establish
00:30:36.11\00:30:37.65
the occupational
history based on the potsherds.
00:30:37.68\00:30:41.09
And so "The humble potsherd,"
00:30:41.12\00:30:42.53
that the broken
piece of pottery,
00:30:42.56\00:30:44.39
"the rubbish on the
ground of any excavated site,
00:30:44.42\00:30:46.71
was elevated to
become the major implement
00:30:46.74\00:30:49.45
in the archaeologist's
hand in his attempts
00:30:49.48\00:30:51.76
to pry open the vault of time."
00:30:51.79\00:30:55.31
These two findings
sequence telling of prophecy--
00:30:55.34\00:30:59.04
of pottery and
stratigraphy of the mount
00:30:59.07\00:31:02.42
form the basis of
scientific archeology.
00:31:02.45\00:31:05.69
A person name Pierre Vincent
00:31:05.72\00:31:07.20
became the expert
in pottery typology.
00:31:07.23\00:31:09.43
He began to show how
that the lamps and balls
00:31:09.46\00:31:11.62
clearly evolve from
one era to the next.
00:31:11.65\00:31:14.82
Occasionally broken
sherds of pottery will be found
00:31:14.85\00:31:17.20
with writing on them.
00:31:17.23\00:31:18.26
They are known as Etruscan.
00:31:18.29\00:31:20.32
Now Etruscan are
very interesting.
00:31:20.35\00:31:23.56
You can see here on the screen
00:31:23.59\00:31:24.86
that there as writing on this
00:31:24.89\00:31:27.07
and in ancient Greece
when you were being tried
00:31:27.10\00:31:30.60
they would actually take
these broken pieces of pottery
00:31:30.63\00:31:32.99
and they would write on them
00:31:33.02\00:31:34.05
whether you were
guilty or not guilty.
00:31:34.08\00:31:35.58
If you were
guilty they would say
00:31:35.61\00:31:37.10
that you were to
be their Etruscan.
00:31:37.13\00:31:41.41
They were said
you to be Etruscized
00:31:41.44\00:31:43.98
you see because of the Etruscan.
00:31:44.01\00:31:46.60
And so they would write
on them and occasionally
00:31:46.63\00:31:48.92
they actually find even
the names of the villages
00:31:48.95\00:31:51.80
written on the potsherds
that they find in the tel.
00:31:51.83\00:31:55.54
Well, Vincent
passed on his knowledge
00:31:55.57\00:31:57.91
of pottery to a man
by the name of Albright
00:31:57.94\00:32:00.18
he was a son of
missionary parents.
00:32:00.21\00:32:02.07
He lost his faith in the Bible
00:32:02.10\00:32:04.04
but the longer he
stayed in the Bible lands
00:32:04.07\00:32:06.07
and began
exploring the more and more
00:32:06.10\00:32:08.42
he saw that the archeology
was confirming the Bible.
00:32:08.45\00:32:12.53
And so he developed a
great belief in the Bible.
00:32:12.56\00:32:16.72
He is known as the
father of biblical archeology.
00:32:16.75\00:32:19.44
Well, we need to hurry on here
00:32:19.47\00:32:20.95
the, as we think about the,
00:32:20.98\00:32:23.73
ancient tels we might
ask why was it site chosen?
00:32:23.76\00:32:26.81
Why they decided to live there?
00:32:26.84\00:32:28.27
Why they decided to live here
00:32:28.30\00:32:29.41
in Wichita by the way?
00:32:29.44\00:32:31.97
Was it because of the
trade routes going through?
00:32:32.00\00:32:35.44
Is there river going through?
00:32:35.47\00:32:37.12
Well, you have to
have water, right.
00:32:37.15\00:32:39.74
In every city it
has to have water
00:32:39.77\00:32:41.81
and anciently you
have to have water.
00:32:41.84\00:32:43.53
And where would
you get water from?
00:32:43.56\00:32:47.00
The river, okay.
00:32:47.03\00:32:48.08
And so almost all of
the cities in America
00:32:48.11\00:32:49.82
are built around
rivers aren't they.
00:32:49.85\00:32:51.46
Just in Albuquerque
00:32:51.49\00:32:52.52
there is a river
there I mean all,
00:32:52.55\00:32:53.58
whole city is almost.
00:32:53.61\00:32:54.79
Now if you don't have a river
00:32:54.82\00:32:55.91
what would you need?
00:32:55.94\00:32:58.09
A spring.
00:32:58.12\00:32:59.15
And so Jericho
was built by a spring.
00:32:59.18\00:33:00.88
By the way Jericho was
taught to be the oldest city
00:33:00.91\00:33:04.97
in the world, okay.
00:33:05.00\00:33:06.50
And has a spring right there.
00:33:06.53\00:33:07.83
And if you didn't have a spring
00:33:07.86\00:33:08.90
what would you need?
00:33:08.93\00:33:10.98
A well, and so we
gonna look at the Beersheba
00:33:11.01\00:33:13.37
and our teaching on Jerusalem
and where under Beersheba
00:33:13.40\00:33:16.57
where Abraham
went and he went there
00:33:16.60\00:33:18.13
and he dug up well.
00:33:18.16\00:33:20.14
What else much you need?
00:33:20.17\00:33:22.92
A cistern.
00:33:22.95\00:33:24.22
And so we get to
about the 7th-century BC
00:33:24.25\00:33:26.36
and they
developed the technology
00:33:26.39\00:33:28.04
to built cisterns and they
were able to build new cities
00:33:28.07\00:33:30.50
at places like its
not Shechem but Nablus.
00:33:30.53\00:33:36.13
And Ahab built the city
and for his capital there.
00:33:36.16\00:33:40.79
And so they
were able to do that.
00:33:40.82\00:33:41.96
So you have to
have a source of water.
00:33:41.99\00:33:43.84
Second thing you
have to have is defense.
00:33:43.87\00:33:45.67
See if figure it
out a long time ago
00:33:45.70\00:33:47.37
there was easier
throw rocks down the hill
00:33:47.40\00:33:49.85
than it was up the hill.
00:33:49.88\00:33:51.15
So you want to build
your city on top of the hill.
00:33:51.18\00:33:53.49
Because it's easy to
thrown those rocks down.
00:33:53.52\00:33:55.81
And so they have to
have defensive walls.
00:33:55.84\00:33:58.30
And third thing
you had to have was,
00:33:58.33\00:34:00.23
what you have here in Kansas
00:34:00.26\00:34:01.61
it will have arable soil,
00:34:01.64\00:34:03.31
a place where you can
grow your crops, right.
00:34:03.34\00:34:05.09
And so we need to
have all three of these.
00:34:05.12\00:34:06.96
Source of
water, defensive walls,
00:34:06.99\00:34:08.70
and arable soil.
00:34:08.73\00:34:09.90
Well, there were very few sites
00:34:09.93\00:34:11.35
that had all
three of those kind of--
00:34:11.38\00:34:13.69
those combinations.
00:34:13.72\00:34:15.02
And so what would tend to happen
00:34:15.05\00:34:16.33
is people would live there.
00:34:16.36\00:34:18.47
And when enemy
would come through,
00:34:18.50\00:34:19.80
he would come through
00:34:19.83\00:34:20.86
and he would knock
your buildings down
00:34:20.89\00:34:21.92
and knock your houses down
00:34:21.95\00:34:23.00
and take your women
away and kill the men.
00:34:23.03\00:34:25.90
And when the people
recovered guess what,
00:34:25.93\00:34:28.70
they would come back to the area
00:34:28.73\00:34:29.86
and because there was water
00:34:29.89\00:34:31.54
and because there was
defensive walls and arable soil
00:34:31.57\00:34:34.55
they would go back
00:34:34.58\00:34:35.61
and they will build their
town on top of that, that hill.
00:34:35.64\00:34:38.32
And so they would
just kind of take,
00:34:38.35\00:34:39.44
the rubble and they
kind of flattened out
00:34:39.47\00:34:41.18
and they build a
new city on top of it.
00:34:41.21\00:34:43.44
You see, and so
over a period of time
00:34:43.47\00:34:45.43
your city would actually grow.
00:34:45.46\00:34:47.71
And people were living
there may be for a 100-years
00:34:47.74\00:34:50.14
and they throw there
garbage out on the street
00:34:50.17\00:34:51.65
because men were in charge
of the world and not women.
00:34:51.68\00:34:53.74
And they throw
their garbage out there
00:34:53.77\00:34:55.25
and no one was there
in town to pick it up
00:34:55.28\00:34:56.77
and they live it
there and guess what.
00:34:56.80\00:34:58.54
The old city would just keep
on growing up and up and up.
00:34:58.57\00:35:01.19
And so these cities actually
00:35:01.22\00:35:02.87
grow taller and
taller and taller.
00:35:02.90\00:35:05.12
So Tell el-Hesi
00:35:05.15\00:35:06.19
when they were in they
told you about a few minutes ago
00:35:06.22\00:35:08.51
it was a 120 feet high.
00:35:08.54\00:35:10.84
The picture I want to
bring up on the screen right now
00:35:10.87\00:35:13.21
here we have a fabulous
tel its over 90 feet tall.
00:35:13.24\00:35:18.83
And so the area would actually
taller and taller and taller.
00:35:18.86\00:35:23.26
Now, when the Israelites return
from the Persian captivity
00:35:23.29\00:35:27.32
the Persians and the Greeks
00:35:27.35\00:35:29.00
and the Romans they
were providing security.
00:35:29.03\00:35:30.83
So you didn't have to build
00:35:30.86\00:35:32.41
your house on top
of the hill anymore.
00:35:32.44\00:35:34.90
Now you could
actually build your houses
00:35:34.93\00:35:37.19
around the base of the hill.
00:35:37.22\00:35:38.83
You could build a
temple up on the top,
00:35:38.86\00:35:40.48
you could build a
graveyard up on the top
00:35:40.51\00:35:42.46
and life was quite a bit easier.
00:35:42.49\00:35:44.89
And so that's how
these things have developed.
00:35:44.92\00:35:48.30
So the hills would actually grow
00:35:48.33\00:35:50.69
and that's where we have
the strata, the stratification
00:35:50.72\00:35:53.18
and they start with
a good building site
00:35:53.21\00:35:55.81
and it's passed on and on.
00:35:55.84\00:35:57.36
And then what is
left is a mount of debris
00:35:57.39\00:36:00.55
and that's called tel.
00:36:00.58\00:36:02.14
Okay, so fabulous
tales that Tel tells,
00:36:02.17\00:36:06.05
fabulous tales the Tel tells.
00:36:06.08\00:36:07.53
Well how do you know
00:36:07.56\00:36:08.59
if it's a Tel or if
it's just a hill out there?
00:36:08.62\00:36:11.97
Well, there's a couple of ways.
00:36:12.00\00:36:14.41
First of all usually
the Tel is conical in shape.
00:36:14.44\00:36:17.45
It's kind of going up at
an angle, conical in shape.
00:36:17.48\00:36:20.90
Secondly, as you're
walking around the top
00:36:20.93\00:36:23.08
you often see building remains
sticking right above the ground.
00:36:23.11\00:36:26.17
You can see hewing rocks
00:36:26.20\00:36:27.82
and so you notice
one used live there.
00:36:27.85\00:36:29.89
And then there
are ancient traditions
00:36:29.92\00:36:31.27
often the name has
reflected in Arabic,
00:36:31.30\00:36:33.61
the name of the village is
right there reflected in Arabic.
00:36:33.64\00:36:36.66
And then as we are walking
around you see potsherds.
00:36:36.69\00:36:39.94
And I have lived in New
England for a number of years
00:36:39.97\00:36:42.16
and I had a garden and
it's seemed like every year
00:36:42.19\00:36:45.40
in my garden I
grew rocks, all right.
00:36:45.43\00:36:49.54
Every year I go on plough my
garden it will be more rocks,
00:36:49.57\00:36:52.66
every year.
00:36:52.69\00:36:54.09
But in this part of the
world you know when it grows?
00:36:54.12\00:36:57.00
Potsherds, broken
pieces of pottery.
00:36:57.03\00:36:59.23
They just keep
coming up to the surface,
00:36:59.26\00:37:01.26
surface these
broken pieces of pottery.
00:37:01.29\00:37:04.30
And so they see the garbage
00:37:04.33\00:37:06.61
that has a way of working itself
00:37:06.64\00:37:08.70
up to the top of the ground
00:37:08.73\00:37:10.12
and you can see it
as you walk around.
00:37:10.15\00:37:11.55
Actually, you can
just stumble up on it,
00:37:11.58\00:37:13.23
its quite fascinating
00:37:13.26\00:37:14.40
and I often tell people that's
one of the best little things
00:37:14.43\00:37:17.56
to take for a souvenir.
00:37:17.59\00:37:19.85
I shouldn't tell
them that anymore.
00:37:19.88\00:37:21.75
I will tell you a story sometime
00:37:21.78\00:37:23.02
about an unfortunate experience
00:37:23.05\00:37:24.79
I had a Beirut Airport
with that type of thing.
00:37:24.82\00:37:26.75
But anyway, there are
these broken pieces of pottery
00:37:26.78\00:37:29.68
everywhere and
it's quite fascinating.
00:37:29.71\00:37:31.74
Well, the
Biblical world is dedicated
00:37:31.77\00:37:34.26
to seeking meaning
from the scent of the past.
00:37:34.29\00:37:36.16
And so I want to
ask this question
00:37:36.19\00:37:38.06
what does the Tel tell us
about meaningful life today?
00:37:38.09\00:37:43.71
And as we narrow down
our interest in archeology,
00:37:43.74\00:37:46.25
the Biblical archeology
we might ask this question
00:37:46.28\00:37:48.78
what light does archeology
shine upon the scriptures?
00:37:48.81\00:37:53.14
Well, we can
safely say that today
00:37:53.17\00:37:55.19
we know more about the Bible
than at anytime in the past.
00:37:55.22\00:37:59.89
Albright that I
mentioned earlier he wrote this,
00:37:59.92\00:38:02.37
he said "There can be no doubt
that archaeology has confirmed
00:38:02.40\00:38:06.50
the substantial historicity
of the Old Testament tradition."
00:38:06.53\00:38:11.42
For instance,
archaeologist digging
00:38:11.45\00:38:13.30
in the Mesopotamian city of
Neuse they found clay tablets
00:38:13.33\00:38:16.89
from the middle of
the 2nd-millennium BC.
00:38:16.92\00:38:20.22
These clay tablets parallel
00:38:20.25\00:38:22.09
the story of Abraham and Sarah
00:38:22.12\00:38:24.77
and the birth of Ishmael
through Sarah slave Hajar.
00:38:24.80\00:38:28.54
The tablets tell how
that the barren wife now
00:38:28.57\00:38:31.24
pay attention guys.
00:38:31.27\00:38:32.53
The tablets tell
how do the barren wife
00:38:32.56\00:38:35.11
the woman who
cannot have any children
00:38:35.14\00:38:37.23
had the right to chose a
surrogate for her husband
00:38:37.26\00:38:42.15
to have a child through
00:38:42.18\00:38:43.34
that is to have an heir through.
00:38:43.37\00:38:44.70
Now, who chose?
00:38:44.73\00:38:47.70
She chose and I'm sure
00:38:47.73\00:38:49.01
she was on the most beautiful
woman in the town, right.
00:38:49.04\00:38:52.46
Well, she would chose
as surrogate now the law
00:38:52.49\00:38:55.57
then these
tablets that actually says
00:38:55.60\00:38:56.81
that later on
that the original wife
00:38:56.84\00:38:59.95
became pregnant and bore a child
00:38:59.98\00:39:01.86
that her child will
be the right for heir.
00:39:01.89\00:39:04.32
It sounds just like the story
00:39:04.35\00:39:06.04
of Abraham and
Sarah, doesn't it.
00:39:06.07\00:39:08.62
And they found another
tablet that told of man
00:39:08.65\00:39:11.59
who sold of
birthright for three sheep.
00:39:11.62\00:39:14.28
It reminds us of Esau
00:39:14.31\00:39:17.18
who sold his birthright
for a bowl of porridge.
00:39:17.21\00:39:21.10
And so the Bible
stories it seems fantastic,
00:39:21.13\00:39:24.89
so strange to western readers
have actually been confirmed
00:39:24.92\00:39:28.56
by clay tablets
thousands of years old.
00:39:28.59\00:39:31.39
Well, in 1988 I
made my way to Syria
00:39:31.42\00:39:34.49
to inspect the
fabulous ruins of Tell Mardikh
00:39:34.52\00:39:37.58
better known as Ebla.
00:39:37.61\00:39:39.45
They are an exceptional,
00:39:39.48\00:39:40.51
it was an
exceptionally large mount
00:39:40.54\00:39:42.14
it covered over a 140 acres.
00:39:42.17\00:39:43.80
It rouse 50 feet
above the surrounding area,
00:39:43.83\00:39:46.38
now in contrast most
towns in Israel or Palestine
00:39:46.41\00:39:49.72
are 10 to 15 acres.
00:39:49.75\00:39:50.89
So here was one it was ten times
00:39:50.92\00:39:52.70
a size of the
average Israelite town.
00:39:52.73\00:39:55.53
It was a very
furl area and in 1964
00:39:55.56\00:39:59.80
the University of
Rome began to dig there.
00:39:59.83\00:40:02.42
A few important
islands were found
00:40:02.45\00:40:03.81
during the next four years.
00:40:03.84\00:40:04.88
A headless basalt statue
00:40:04.91\00:40:06.44
of man wearing a
robe that was inscribed
00:40:06.47\00:40:08.28
with the
cuneiform signs it's found.
00:40:08.31\00:40:09.95
And but in 1973, they
found the royal palace.
00:40:09.98\00:40:14.16
They found 42 tablets.
00:40:14.19\00:40:18.73
They resembled petrified waffles
00:40:18.76\00:40:20.60
being strung all over the floor.
00:40:20.63\00:40:23.38
Almost a thousand more tablets
00:40:23.41\00:40:25.41
were unearth in
September of 1975
00:40:25.44\00:40:28.05
but the day they were
make Ebla a historic find
00:40:28.08\00:40:31.12
came at the end of the month.
00:40:31.15\00:40:33.07
The team located a
wall and the small palace.
00:40:33.10\00:40:36.57
Remember they sank a shaft
down into the western corner.
00:40:36.60\00:40:39.61
And Professor Mathia,
00:40:39.64\00:40:41.02
peered down and he saw
the most significant library
00:40:41.05\00:40:44.33
of the ancient
world ever discovered.
00:40:44.36\00:40:46.90
He said "My first impression
00:40:46.93\00:40:48.26
was that I was looking
at a sea of clay tablets."
00:40:48.29\00:40:52.27
Now most of them were
down in piles on the floor
00:40:52.30\00:40:54.39
where they'd crashed down
00:40:54.42\00:40:55.45
when the city
was sat in 2250 BC.
00:40:55.48\00:40:58.67
Ironically, the fires
of the Acadian conquerors
00:40:58.70\00:41:01.73
ensure that the tablets
would endure through out time
00:41:01.76\00:41:05.56
making them to a
stone like hardness.
00:41:05.59\00:41:08.48
Over 20,000 clay
tablets were discovered.
00:41:08.51\00:41:13.18
Twenty thousand clay tablets,
so royal archives of a town
00:41:13.21\00:41:17.13
but it controlled the
region not for military might
00:41:17.16\00:41:19.45
but through commerce
have been discovered.
00:41:19.48\00:41:21.74
They found over a
thousand dictionaries
00:41:21.77\00:41:24.08
to enable the scholars to
understand the new language.
00:41:24.11\00:41:28.32
At its height in 2300 BC,
00:41:28.35\00:41:30.68
30, 000 people lived
within the walls of Petra.
00:41:30.71\00:41:34.11
Perhaps 300,000
lived in environs.
00:41:34.14\00:41:37.77
Abraham would
have stopped at Petra
00:41:37.80\00:41:40.72
on his journey to
the Promised Land.
00:41:40.75\00:41:43.08
Most of the
tablets were trade records
00:41:43.11\00:41:45.03
chronicling the trade
being done with other cities.
00:41:45.06\00:41:48.83
Its fascinating that
listed in the correspondence
00:41:48.86\00:41:51.56
are many names that we read
about in the Book of Genesis.
00:41:51.59\00:41:54.59
Names like Hazor and Lachish,
00:41:54.62\00:42:00.66
Meggiddo, Gazza, and then Salem.
00:42:00.69\00:42:03.60
And you might
recall in Genesis 14.
00:42:03.63\00:42:07.45
It's not called
Jerusalem its called Salem,
00:42:07.48\00:42:10.17
Melchizedek was the
priest king of Salem.
00:42:10.20\00:42:13.00
They also discovered many names
00:42:13.03\00:42:15.25
that seemed to
confirm the biblical names.
00:42:15.28\00:42:17.80
Professor Pettinato made a very
starling discovering in 1977
00:42:17.83\00:42:22.16
when he mentioned that
they found bills of seal
00:42:22.19\00:42:27.19
to Sodom and Gomorrah.
00:42:27.22\00:42:28.97
Now before that
there was no record
00:42:29.00\00:42:30.98
and so that Sodom and
Gomorrah ever existing.
00:42:31.01\00:42:33.06
So most liberal
scholars felt it was obvious.
00:42:33.09\00:42:35.10
It is just Jewish
folklore, it's not true.
00:42:35.13\00:42:38.28
Now, there is a bit of
debate about that today
00:42:38.31\00:42:43.06
he is the linguists
who worked on the site.
00:42:43.09\00:42:46.20
Professor Mathia was the
person in charge of the dig
00:42:46.23\00:42:49.15
and he said no, no it doesn't
talk about Sodom and Gomorrah.
00:42:49.18\00:42:51.88
However Professor
Pettinato say it does.
00:42:51.91\00:42:55.81
Now, when I was taking a group
of pastors on tour recently
00:42:55.84\00:42:59.47
and we were
traveling through Syria
00:42:59.50\00:43:01.15
I said we must
go to Tell Mardikh.
00:43:01.18\00:43:03.13
And my tour guide said no, no
00:43:03.16\00:43:04.19
you don't want to
go to Tell Mardikh.
00:43:04.22\00:43:05.25
And I said yeah, no, we
want to go to Tell Mardikh.
00:43:05.28\00:43:07.05
No, no you don't
want to go there.
00:43:07.08\00:43:08.45
I said well,
what is going on here.
00:43:08.48\00:43:10.47
I want to, I want to
take them its very important.
00:43:10.50\00:43:13.25
And so as we traveled
I finally got out of him
00:43:13.28\00:43:17.81
what was going on.
00:43:17.84\00:43:19.33
Because of this
connection the biblical names
00:43:19.36\00:43:23.48
he thought people there thought
00:43:23.51\00:43:26.08
that Israel would use
as an excuse to invade
00:43:26.11\00:43:28.87
and occupy the land as
part of greater Israel.
00:43:28.90\00:43:31.18
I said you don't
really believe that do you?
00:43:31.21\00:43:33.22
Yes, it was very
convinced that it was,
00:43:33.25\00:43:35.91
I'm not into politics
but I'm not into that at all.
00:43:35.94\00:43:39.25
Well, it's very interesting.
00:43:39.28\00:43:41.09
Professor Pettinato who said
they would bills of seal there
00:43:41.12\00:43:44.80
he no longer has a visa
to excavate in the country.
00:43:44.83\00:43:47.84
Professor Mathia
continues to excavate.
00:43:47.87\00:43:50.62
So it's unfortunate
that some times politics
00:43:50.65\00:43:53.44
kind of stretches
across even into archaeology.
00:43:53.47\00:43:56.83
Well, there were some
other names of good sounds
00:43:56.86\00:43:58.83
names parlaying
Abraham and Ishmael
00:43:58.86\00:44:01.24
Israel and Esau
and even Eber the king
00:44:01.27\00:44:05.17
that is mentioned
there in Genesis 14.
00:44:05.20\00:44:08.08
And so it's amazing as
00:44:08.11\00:44:10.00
Albright saw more
and more data coming in,
00:44:10.03\00:44:12.17
confirming the Bible
he wrote this in 1936.
00:44:12.20\00:44:15.20
He said "Genesis 14 used to
be considered as unhistorical,
00:44:15.23\00:44:18.90
now we are more modest."
00:44:18.93\00:44:20.93
Well, 19-years later
he republished the article
00:44:20.96\00:44:23.30
and this is what he said.
00:44:23.33\00:44:24.63
It was even more
positively written.
00:44:24.66\00:44:26.77
He said "Genesis 14
can no longer be considered
00:44:26.80\00:44:29.80
as unhistorical
00:44:29.83\00:44:31.22
in view of the many
conformations of details
00:44:31.25\00:44:34.36
which we owe to
the recent finds."
00:44:34.39\00:44:36.43
We have to wonder what
all would I have written
00:44:36.46\00:44:38.86
if you'd lived to
see the discoveries
00:44:38.89\00:44:40.73
that were made at Ebla.
00:44:40.76\00:44:42.56
Well, 1988
00:44:42.59\00:44:43.72
I followed in the
footsteps of Charles Texier
00:44:43.75\00:44:48.50
a French traveler exploring
Northern Turkey and in 1834
00:44:48.53\00:44:52.67
he just left this
little village of Bogazkoy
00:44:52.70\00:44:55.26
and he began to go out.
00:44:55.29\00:44:56.81
And he climbed up a rugged
road into the rugged hills
00:44:56.84\00:45:00.28
and he suddenly there before him
00:45:00.31\00:45:01.64
were a long
giant rows of stones.
00:45:01.67\00:45:06.16
He came upon the
remains of a wall.
00:45:06.19\00:45:08.34
It was miles in length.
00:45:08.37\00:45:10.36
There was not a town he realized
this must have been city
00:45:10.39\00:45:13.41
at least as large as
Athens at its height.
00:45:13.44\00:45:16.98
Problem was there
was no such city missing.
00:45:17.01\00:45:22.32
He found two massive gates
00:45:22.35\00:45:24.47
on one of them was
carved a king or perhaps a God.
00:45:24.50\00:45:28.02
The other entrance
in the city was guarded
00:45:28.05\00:45:30.02
by gigantic statues of
lions one on each side.
00:45:30.05\00:45:34.06
And the carvings
were unlike anything
00:45:34.09\00:45:36.00
he had ever seen before.
00:45:36.03\00:45:37.63
And they liven to a
plateau about two hours away
00:45:37.66\00:45:40.14
where he found a place
called the inscribed rock
00:45:40.17\00:45:44.13
and there were
precipitous cliffs
00:45:44.16\00:45:45.50
and they were rounded off.
00:45:45.53\00:45:46.80
And then they was
edged into the cliffs
00:45:46.83\00:45:49.18
these warrior
guards, processions of guards
00:45:49.21\00:45:52.08
moving stiffly across the walls.
00:45:52.11\00:45:55.40
He was amazed.
00:45:55.43\00:45:56.46
Another narrow passage
guarded by carved demons,
00:45:56.49\00:46:01.20
what was this city that had
been that he had discovered.
00:46:01.23\00:46:05.15
He didn't know what it meant.
00:46:05.18\00:46:06.21
He observed writing strange,
strange writing on the rocks.
00:46:06.24\00:46:09.26
Resembled hieroglyphics
00:46:09.29\00:46:10.63
but it was nothing
like you'd ever seen before.
00:46:10.66\00:46:12.87
He was mystified.
00:46:12.90\00:46:14.57
William Hamilton
was visiting the ruins
00:46:14.60\00:46:17.26
not long after Texier and he
discovered more ruins nearby.
00:46:17.29\00:46:20.47
What these men discovered
was actually an embarrassment
00:46:20.50\00:46:23.40
to archaeology which
was still a young science.
00:46:23.43\00:46:26.13
They were discovering
more than was known to be lost.
00:46:26.16\00:46:29.82
Archaeologist didn't know
what to do with the finds.
00:46:29.85\00:46:32.72
It wasn't long until a
strange writing was found
00:46:32.75\00:46:36.34
all the way up to the Black Sea.
00:46:36.37\00:46:38.84
All the way out
to the Aegean Sea
00:46:38.87\00:46:42.09
in western Turkey
or western Anatolia.
00:46:42.12\00:46:44.44
What strange empire
could have had a writing
00:46:44.47\00:46:48.02
that stretched
all these distances?
00:46:48.05\00:46:50.70
They were
mystified what did it mean.
00:46:50.73\00:46:53.29
What did it mean?
00:46:53.32\00:46:54.35
Well, in 1880
Archabbot Henry says,
00:46:54.38\00:46:57.78
presented paper to the
society of British Archaeology.
00:46:57.81\00:47:02.07
He advanced the theory
that these mysterious ruins,
00:47:02.10\00:47:05.53
these strange writings
belonged to the Hittites.
00:47:05.56\00:47:07.95
So people mentioned in the Bible
00:47:07.98\00:47:09.85
but hitherto passed off is
unimportant or nonexistence.
00:47:09.88\00:47:13.70
And yet the Bible
mentioned Hittites 48 times.
00:47:13.73\00:47:18.34
One instance it actually spoke
of the king of the Hittites
00:47:18.37\00:47:21.05
and the kings of the Egyptians.
00:47:21.08\00:47:23.69
The very mention of the Hittites
along with the Egyptians
00:47:23.72\00:47:27.09
one of the great
powers of the past
00:47:27.12\00:47:28.73
should have made men's topping
wonder yet aside from the Bible
00:47:28.76\00:47:31.78
there was not one
mention of the Hittites.
00:47:31.81\00:47:34.19
And all of the
records of antiquity
00:47:34.22\00:47:36.35
there was a not
trace of them, not a word.
00:47:36.38\00:47:38.27
So scholars reason well,
it will be impossible for
00:47:38.30\00:47:40.42
such an empires its just
pass off the stage of history.
00:47:40.45\00:47:44.00
And so they took
the silence as evidence
00:47:44.03\00:47:47.50
that the Hittites never existed.
00:47:47.53\00:47:49.70
It all the while
the stately columns
00:47:49.73\00:47:52.66
these half buried statues,
00:47:52.69\00:47:55.49
these massive ruins bore
a testimony to the Hittites.
00:47:55.52\00:48:01.71
And once the language
is discovered they actually
00:48:01.74\00:48:05.26
saw that this was true
that the Bible was true.
00:48:05.29\00:48:07.41
What happened is this.
00:48:07.44\00:48:08.79
The Rosetta Stone was discovered
00:48:08.82\00:48:12.62
and once they
were able to understand
00:48:12.65\00:48:14.62
the
hieroglyphics the vast museum
00:48:14.65\00:48:17.57
and pillars along the
Nile began to open their doors.
00:48:17.60\00:48:20.27
Muddy carnage began
to reveal its story.
00:48:20.30\00:48:22.73
Here on these massive
pillars and palace walls
00:48:22.76\00:48:25.00
Ramses described
its political conflicts
00:48:25.03\00:48:27.86
with the king of Hittite.
00:48:27.89\00:48:29.31
They began to
piece the facts together.
00:48:29.34\00:48:32.11
But even then historians
had not guessed the truth.
00:48:32.14\00:48:35.24
They thought it was
some of the important tribes
00:48:35.27\00:48:36.79
it didn't occurred to them
00:48:36.82\00:48:37.85
the very length
of time of this tribe
00:48:37.88\00:48:40.08
because skirmish of the
two great powers of the day
00:48:40.11\00:48:41.95
was an indication that
it was not a tribe at all
00:48:41.98\00:48:44.21
but a third great
empire of the day.
00:48:44.24\00:48:46.36
Well in 1906 the
Assyriologist Winckler
00:48:46.39\00:48:48.46
was digging at Bogazkoy
00:48:48.49\00:48:50.24
and he discovered a clay tablet
00:48:50.27\00:48:51.98
and it turns out to be a
tablet from Ramses the Great
00:48:52.01\00:48:54.61
to the king of the Hittites.
00:48:54.64\00:48:55.90
It's the first international
peace treaty that we have.
00:48:55.93\00:48:59.29
Fascinating isn't it.
00:48:59.32\00:49:00.89
How that the
Bible was confirmed.
00:49:00.92\00:49:04.22
The Bible was confirmed.
00:49:04.25\00:49:05.50
Well, we have to hurry along.
00:49:05.53\00:49:07.16
The Hittites were got into
the skirmish with Egyptians
00:49:07.19\00:49:12.76
and Hittites king was quite
wise he knew that Ramses was
00:49:12.79\00:49:18.10
subject to flattery and
so he sent better one spied
00:49:18.13\00:49:20.82
and he said you
know the Hittites
00:49:20.85\00:49:22.32
that they heard you of
coming and they ran away.
00:49:22.35\00:49:24.68
And so Ramses the great he was
very susceptible to flattery.
00:49:24.71\00:49:28.04
And so he took his
army up into a trap
00:49:28.07\00:49:30.06
and almost lost his life.
00:49:30.09\00:49:32.43
That's why he was
willing to make peace
00:49:32.46\00:49:34.29
with the king of the Hittites.
00:49:34.32\00:49:35.97
Well, the Hittites they
pioneered the use of iron
00:49:36.00\00:49:38.63
and they explored the
technology of the Palestine.
00:49:38.66\00:49:40.78
They were relative gentlemen
in new eastern standards
00:49:40.81\00:49:43.11
they didn't
torture or kill people.
00:49:43.14\00:49:45.10
They made them their source.
00:49:45.13\00:49:46.52
They destroyed Ebla in 1600
00:49:46.55\00:49:48.99
and then they
came to end themselves
00:49:49.02\00:49:50.64
69-years after the peace treaty
written by Ramses the Great.
00:49:50.67\00:49:54.63
So it's amazing that the
spade of the archaeologist
00:49:54.66\00:49:57.35
has dug open the
windows of the remote past
00:49:57.38\00:50:00.65
confirming the biblical account
of history by clay tablets
00:50:00.68\00:50:04.15
hidden manuscripts, stone
cylinders and hieroglyphics,
00:50:04.18\00:50:07.22
the Bible again and again is
proving to be reliable document.
00:50:07.25\00:50:13.06
The Book of Isaiah I mentioned
Sargon the king of Assyria
00:50:13.09\00:50:16.05
as of remarkable fulfillments
of that we're going to skip over
00:50:16.08\00:50:18.51
that as our time is
slipping away on us here.
00:50:18.54\00:50:23.37
I want to come down and
tell you fascinating story
00:50:23.40\00:50:26.13
that took place in Babylon.
00:50:26.16\00:50:27.91
Babylon is in the news
quite a bit today isn't it
00:50:27.94\00:50:29.67
and modern Iraq.
00:50:29.70\00:50:31.15
And so here in ancient
Iraq there was a fabulous story
00:50:31.18\00:50:34.34
and we're gonna talk
about this on Sunday evening.
00:50:34.37\00:50:36.36
It's a mystery because the
Bible talks about Belshazzar
00:50:36.39\00:50:40.22
being the king of Babylon.
00:50:40.25\00:50:45.17
And yet
Belshazzar was not mentioned
00:50:45.20\00:50:46.88
in any of the Babylonian record,
00:50:46.91\00:50:48.05
in any of the
Greek or roman records.
00:50:48.08\00:50:50.09
And so again this obviously
it must be a Jewish myth
00:50:50.12\00:50:52.94
talking about Belshazzar.
00:50:52.97\00:50:54.97
Well, its time we are
on to began to discover
00:50:55.00\00:50:58.99
some of the Persian
and Babylonian records
00:50:59.02\00:51:02.00
such as the Prayer
of Nabonidus in 1861.
00:51:02.03\00:51:04.58
There is a prayer for
oldest son of Nabonidus
00:51:04.61\00:51:08.02
the king of Babylon and
his name was Belshazzar.
00:51:08.05\00:51:11.32
And then we discovered in
1882 the Nabonidus Chronicle
00:51:11.35\00:51:17.78
it was describing
00:51:17.81\00:51:19.12
how that the capture
of Babylon took place
00:51:19.15\00:51:21.43
and Nabonidus was down in Arabia
00:51:21.46\00:51:23.67
and team in Arabia
collecting butterflies.
00:51:23.70\00:51:27.01
Then some people who
believed in the Bible say
00:51:27.04\00:51:29.42
well this is obviously
the Belshazzar of the Bible
00:51:29.45\00:51:31.71
but other people
said no it can't be,
00:51:31.74\00:51:33.41
it's not
mentioned anywhere else.
00:51:33.44\00:51:35.23
But in 1924 Smith published
the worse account of Nabonidus
00:51:35.26\00:51:39.29
and it actually says
he entrusted his kingship
00:51:39.32\00:51:41.67
to his oldest son Belshazzar.
00:51:41.70\00:51:44.36
A remarkable
fulfillment of the Bible,
00:51:44.39\00:51:47.62
a tremendous
fulfillment of the Bible
00:51:47.65\00:51:49.84
and yet we see the words
R.H. Pfeiffer on the screen
00:51:49.87\00:51:52.69
"We shall presumably never know
00:51:52.72\00:51:54.41
how our author
learned that Belshazzar
00:51:54.44\00:51:57.07
mentioned only the
Babylonian records, and Daniel
00:51:57.10\00:52:00.31
which is Baruch 1:1
it was based on Daniel
00:52:00.34\00:52:03.17
it was functioning as
king when Cyrus too Babylon."
00:52:03.20\00:52:06.68
He says we don't know
how he could have information
00:52:06.71\00:52:08.58
that nobody else had.
00:52:08.61\00:52:10.19
Do you know why he
had that information?
00:52:10.22\00:52:11.91
Because he
lived back at the time
00:52:11.94\00:52:14.00
when the Bible says he did.
00:52:14.03\00:52:15.37
He was an
eyewitness to the events,
00:52:15.40\00:52:17.63
an eyewitness to the events.
00:52:17.66\00:52:19.45
Well, some people
are amazed as I see
00:52:19.48\00:52:23.81
how that the time has
passed and they wondered
00:52:23.84\00:52:26.56
has the Bible really
changed through the years.
00:52:26.59\00:52:28.80
How much is the Bible changed?
00:52:28.83\00:52:30.89
And they wonder how much could
the Bible have been changed
00:52:30.92\00:52:34.89
over thousand years since
it was originally written?
00:52:34.92\00:52:38.00
How much could it be corrupted?
00:52:38.03\00:52:39.21
Well, a modern
skeptic wrote this in 1939.
00:52:39.24\00:52:42.13
Remember that day 1939?
00:52:42.16\00:52:43.92
"How well are we provided
00:52:43.95\00:52:45.17
with manuscripts of
the Hebrew Old Testament.
00:52:45.20\00:52:47.42
It is generally rather a
shock when one first learns
00:52:47.45\00:52:49.79
that the oldest
existent manuscripts
00:52:49.82\00:52:51.64
are no earlier than the
Ninth Century after Christ.
00:52:51.67\00:52:54.84
Over a thousand years separate
our earliest Hebrew manuscripts
00:52:54.87\00:52:58.49
from the date at which
the latest of the books
00:52:58.52\00:53:00.20
contained in them
were originally written.
00:53:00.23\00:53:02.64
It is a disquieting
thought when one reflects
00:53:02.67\00:53:05.41
how much a text may
be corrupted or mutilated
00:53:05.44\00:53:08.46
in the course of
transmission by manuscript
00:53:08.49\00:53:11.25
over a long period of time."
00:53:11.28\00:53:13.26
Do you get what he is saying?
00:53:13.29\00:53:14.32
He is saying there was
over 1,000-years from the time
00:53:14.35\00:53:16.52
when they originally
wrote the Old Testament
00:53:16.55\00:53:18.40
until the
manuscripts that we have today.
00:53:18.43\00:53:20.23
Just think of it how much
have changed during that time.
00:53:20.26\00:53:22.67
Now what you're
daily writers in.
00:53:22.70\00:53:25.18
1939, remember that day.
00:53:25.21\00:53:29.60
Eight years later, 15
year old Muhammed Edh-Dhib
00:53:29.63\00:53:34.18
was looking for a lost goat
and he was there on the hills
00:53:34.21\00:53:36.77
and he threw a stone into a cave
and he heard pottery breaking.
00:53:36.80\00:53:43.08
He was frightened. He
thought may be it was ghosts.
00:53:43.11\00:53:45.53
And so he ran
away and as he ran away
00:53:45.56\00:53:47.54
he began to wonder was it
ghosts or was it a pot of gold.
00:53:47.57\00:53:51.96
And so he got a
friend to go back with him.
00:53:51.99\00:53:53.96
And he went in and they were
very afraid and they went in
00:53:53.99\00:53:57.14
and they didn't find any gold.
00:53:57.17\00:53:58.98
You know what they found?
00:53:59.01\00:54:00.97
Old pieces of leather.
00:54:01.00\00:54:03.28
Old pieces of leather
and they were so disappointed
00:54:03.31\00:54:05.13
when they were
over there at the caves
00:54:05.16\00:54:06.19
these old pieces of leather
00:54:06.22\00:54:07.59
and they took some
back and they unrolled
00:54:07.62\00:54:08.94
and they went form one
side of tent to the other
00:54:08.97\00:54:10.53
and they thought
what we are doing this
00:54:10.56\00:54:11.64
I traveled around with them.
00:54:11.67\00:54:13.03
Finally they took
it down to Bethlehem
00:54:13.06\00:54:15.45
to Syrian Christian who
was informally known as Kando.
00:54:15.48\00:54:18.58
And he said are
you interested in this?
00:54:18.61\00:54:20.56
Now this, this guy
owned a shoe cobbling business
00:54:20.59\00:54:23.86
as well as a grocery store.
00:54:23.89\00:54:25.12
And so he bought
the old leather scrolls
00:54:25.15\00:54:28.20
and thought about
using them to mend shoes.
00:54:28.23\00:54:30.56
Can you imagine that,
the oldest manuscripts
00:54:30.59\00:54:33.12
of the Bible in the
world to be used to mend shoes?
00:54:33.15\00:54:36.26
So not to make your
heart start beating isn't it.
00:54:36.29\00:54:38.08
Well, ultimately the scholars
the scrolls made there ways
00:54:38.11\00:54:43.27
into the hands of
scholars who recognized
00:54:43.30\00:54:45.56
and to be ancient
copies of the Bible.
00:54:45.59\00:54:47.06
The entire Book of
Isaiah was discovered
00:54:47.09\00:54:49.05
written before the time of Jesus
00:54:49.08\00:54:51.27
and addition portions
of every Old Testament book
00:54:51.30\00:54:53.51
were discovered with
the exception of Esther.
00:54:53.54\00:54:56.17
The discovery of the scrolls
and the caves of the Dead Sea
00:54:56.20\00:54:58.74
raise an important
question who would hidden them?
00:54:58.77\00:55:00.46
Who would so loved
boyishly copy these Scrolls
00:55:00.49\00:55:02.55
and put them into these caves.
00:55:02.58\00:55:04.03
Well, it turns out
that they were Assyrians.
00:55:04.06\00:55:06.14
A group of people
from the time of Jesus
00:55:06.17\00:55:08.12
and they lived down
there an ascetic life
00:55:08.15\00:55:10.85
and they copied the scriptures
00:55:10.88\00:55:12.72
and they
actually had a room here
00:55:12.75\00:55:14.45
you can see on the
screen a scriptorium
00:55:14.48\00:55:16.05
where they copy the scriptures
and ultimately they found
00:55:16.08\00:55:18.75
the archaeologist found that
00:55:18.78\00:55:19.89
they were evidences that
the wells and the inkpots
00:55:19.92\00:55:23.65
match the ink and
the scrolls themselves.
00:55:23.68\00:55:26.60
And when the Romans came down
00:55:26.63\00:55:28.28
about the time
Sodom was being destroyed.
00:55:28.31\00:55:30.54
The Romans came down they
hid this scrolls into the caves
00:55:30.57\00:55:33.21
and they were left
there for 1900 years
00:55:33.24\00:55:35.94
until they were rediscovered.
00:55:35.97\00:55:37.23
Well, it was an amazing thing.
00:55:37.26\00:55:39.63
William, I', sorry--
00:55:39.66\00:55:41.41
Millar Burrows
the former director
00:55:41.44\00:55:43.57
of the American
School of Oriental Research
00:55:43.60\00:55:45.91
made the first
announcement about
00:55:45.94\00:55:47.39
the Scrolls to
the western world.
00:55:47.42\00:55:48.92
And he said, you
may be disappointed
00:55:48.95\00:55:50.84
that we haven't published
all of the Isaiah manuscript.
00:55:50.87\00:55:54.68
But I want you to
read what he said.
00:55:54.71\00:55:56.40
"Some readers may be
disappointed that the
00:55:56.43\00:55:58.29
translations of the Isaiah
manuscript are not included
00:55:58.32\00:56:00.93
in this edition of the
text of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
00:56:00.96\00:56:05.84
The fact is that most
of the differences between
00:56:05.87\00:56:08.07
these manuscripts and
the traditional Hebrew text
00:56:08.10\00:56:10.61
do not involve
changes of meaning
00:56:10.64\00:56:12.33
that would be
evident in a translation
00:56:12.36\00:56:14.32
and the differences
that do involve such changes
00:56:14.35\00:56:16.85
are not sufficiently
frequent to justify the space
00:56:16.88\00:56:19.97
for the
translation of these texts."
00:56:20.00\00:56:22.05
Can you imagine it?
00:56:22.08\00:56:23.24
Thousand years and you
wouldn't notice the difference
00:56:23.27\00:56:28.78
from Hebrew to
English translation.
00:56:28.81\00:56:31.62
How much did it change?
00:56:31.65\00:56:33.14
You wouldn't even see it.
00:56:33.17\00:56:34.21
You wouldn't even see it.
00:56:34.24\00:56:35.54
Isn't that amazing?
00:56:35.57\00:56:36.60
The truth is that God
has preserved His word.
00:56:36.63\00:56:40.50
He has preserved His Word
00:56:40.53\00:56:42.13
and we can have
confidence in it.
00:56:42.16\00:56:43.79
And that's what
archaeology tells us.
00:56:43.82\00:56:46.51
Let's pray together.
00:56:46.54\00:56:47.81
Father in heaven, thank
You for this opportunity
00:56:47.84\00:56:49.95
to explore the
wonderful world of the past
00:56:49.98\00:56:52.93
and to have our
confidence in Your holy book
00:56:52.96\00:56:55.85
confirmed and encouraged.
00:56:55.88\00:56:57.38
I pray that each will bless each
of us in our spiritual journey
00:56:57.41\00:57:00.18
that we might have
more confidence in You
00:57:00.21\00:57:02.23
as a result of this
study in archaeology
00:57:02.26\00:57:04.15
I pray in Jesus name, amen.
00:57:04.18\00:57:06.29