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Biblical Archaeology

Stunned Volunteer At City Of David Sifting Project Finds An Unbelievably Rare ‘Bekah’ Stone Weight From First Temple In Jerusalem

An extremely rare biblical stone weight inscribed in ancient Hebrew script with the word ‘bekah’ was discovered in rubble taken from excavations at the foundations of the Western Wall.

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An extremely rare, minuscule biblical stone weight inscribed in ancient Hebrew script with the word ‘bekah’ was discovered in rubble taken from excavations at the foundations of the Western Wall.

As amazing as this latest discovery truly is, and it is, there have been a spate of finds likes these over the past few years. So much so that we had to create a new category for the homepage entitled ‘Biblical Archaeology‘, and I highly suggest you check it out.

“A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.” Exodus 38:26 (KJV)

The discovery of the Bekah stone, a Biblical measure of weight used in the First Temple, is about as incredible a link to the Old Testament as you could hope to find in 2018. I know we walk by faith and ‘not by sight’ in the Church Age, but I love when the Lord gives us these little ‘handfuls of purpose’ that we can see with our eyes. If you love the Bible, this is the Super Bowl of discoveries, that’s how rare it is.

Straight from the Bible: Tiny First Temple bekah stone weight unearthed in Jerusalem

FROM THE TIMES OF ISRAEL: Only a handful of similar stone beka weights have been unearthed in Jerusalem, said archaeologist Eli Shukron, who directed the excavations on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. He told The Times of Israel that none had previously been found with this exact inscription.

The ‘bekah’ is a First Temple-period weight measure used by pilgrims paying their half-shekel tax before ascending to the Temple Mount, was recently discovered by a volunteer in the City of David’s wet sifting project in Jerusalem’s Emek Tzurim National Park.

The word ‘bekah’ appears twice in the Torah: first as the weight of gold in a nose ring given to matriarch Rebecca in the Book of Genesis, and later in the Book of Exodus as a weight for the donation brought by the Jewish people for the maintenance of the Temple and the census, as recorded in Exodus 38, Verse 26: “A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.”

The bekah stone was discovered in dirt taken from 2013 excavations under Robinson’s Arch. According to Shukron, the earth came from a drainage canal under the foundation of the Western Wall.

This bekah is the only example to date of the inscription being written in “mirror writing,” said Shukron, and the letters are engraved from left to right instead of right to left. For example, the letter “bet” incised into the small stone is facing the opposite direction.

“This is the only one not written ‘properly,’” Shukron said, which leads him to conclude that the artisan who formed the weight also created seals, which are written in mirror script.

“Apparently, the seal craftsman got confused when he engraved the inscription on the weight and mistakenly used mirror script as he was used to doing. From this mistake we can learn about the general rule: the artists who engraved weights during the First Temple period were the same artists who specialized in creating seals,” said Shukron in a press release.

Unlike several hundred years later, during this era, there was no half-shekel coin. Pilgrims brought the equivalent weight, a beka, in silver to pay their tax, which would have been measured out on scales in the very spot under the Temple Mount where the tiny stone weight was unearthed.

Shukron said in a press release, “When the half-shekel tax was brought to the Temple during the First Temple period, there were no coins, so they used silver ingots. In order to calculate the weight of these silver pieces they would put them on one side of the scales and on the other side they placed the Bekah weight. The Bekah was equivalent to the half-shekel, which every person from the age of 20 years and up was required to bring to the Temple.” According to the release, the biblical shekel weighed 11.33 grams.

The first coins bearing Hebrew script were inscribed with the word “beka” and date from the 5th century BC, according to a 1993 Biblical Archaeology Review article. The beka coin was minted by permission of the Persians, wrote article author Oded Borowski. READ MORE

First Temple Beka Weight Unearthed in Jerusalem Sifting Project

The bekah stone weight inscribed with ancient Hebrew script was uncovered in earth from the foundation stones of the Western Wall, just north of the City of David was likely used in the First Temple.

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Biblical Archaeology

Biblical Archaeologists Making Stunning Discovery Under The Treasury Building At Selah Petra In Harbinger Of The Coming Time Of Jacob’s Trouble

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Archeologists found an untouched tomb containing 12 human skeletons and various treasures under the Treasury room at Selah Petra in Jordan

If you believe your King James Bible, then you know that this planet we live on, and even the universe in which it sits, is very much alive and active. Some great examples of this are stones that can talk, trees that can clap their hands, the sun and the stars turning out their own lights, and the list goes on and on. A stunning new discovery at Selah Petra, the place where God will keep the remnant of Israel safe from Antichrist for three and a half years, has recently started to ‘wake up’ and begin to reveal its secrets. Why now? Great question.

“Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:” Matthew 24:16 (KJB)

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” Revelation 12:6 (KJB)

The Church Age is now nearly at an end, and it will formally conclude in an event we call the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church. From there there time of Jacob’s trouble begins, a 7-year time period that includes the 3.5 year great Tribulation. God will supernaturally preserve a remnant of the Jews, Isaiah 1:9, safe inside the red rock walls of Selah Petra, a place that Daniel 11:41 says Antichrist will not be able to enter. The Church is about to fly, and the Jews and the nation of Israel are about to be ‘the next man up’ on the end times roster. So it makes perfect sense that the ground at Selah Petra is starting to reveal its secrets and it gets itself ready for what’s coming next.

Archeologists find 12 hidden tombs with intact skeletons beneath the Treasury building at Selah Petra in Jordan

FROM THE JERUSALEM POST: Known locally in Jordan as Al Khazneh, the discovery of an untouched tomb under Petra’s famous Treasury room – which was featured in Spielberg’s 1989 movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” as the location of the Holy Grail – comes after over 20 years of finding numerous hidden tombs throughout the Treasury.

Dr. Richard Bates, a geophysicist from the University of St. Andrews, led the recent excavation after receiving permission to use advanced ground-penetrating radar at the site. “We were quite shocked that they did give us permission to go in and survey,” the NYT cited Bates.

Bates emphasized that “this was stunning data,” as the radar showed clear signs of voids and structures beneath the Treasury, prompting a joint excavation effort between Jordanian and American teams.

The newly found tombs are believed to be older than the Treasury itself and feature walls that haven’t been seen in the region before. “People think they know Petra. They recognize the Treasury,” said Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman, an archaeologist involved in the dig. “But all these people walk by, and there’s so much more under our feet.”

The skeletal remains found under the Treasury room date from 400 B.C. to A.D. 106 and offer some clues about the Nabatean civilization, which made Petra its capital around the fourth century B.C., according to the NYT. The intact dozen skeletons were within a hidden tomb and were discovered within a chamber divided by a set of walls, something that had not been seen before in the ancient city of Al Khazneh. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

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But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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Biblical Archaeology

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas Is An Egyptian Forgery And Is Once Again Back In The Headlines With An ‘Amazing Discovery’ Designed To Deceive You

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The unbiblical Infancy Gospel of Thomas (IGT) describes Jesus’ life from the ages of five to 12 and was written during the 2nd century in Egypt

Back in 2021, I wrote an article that was purely speculative, just a feeling I had at the time, that we should prepare ourselves for the day when they would ‘discover the bones of Jesus’, thus rendering the entire New Testament impotent. While that still has not happened, yet, still plenty of deception abounds to try and get you to lose your faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of these pieces of fakery is known as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and they just discovered ‘exciting news’ about a lost manuscript recently discovered that you need to know. (insert eye-roll here)

“And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” 1 Corinthians 15:18,19 (KJB)

There is an excellent book called ‘Did The Catholic Church Give Us The Bible?’ from Chick Publications we sell at the Bookstore, and I highly recommend you get yourself a copy. It shows that there are two lines of manuscripts that produces two lines of Bibles. The first is the line of the preserved text, the Textus Receptus, where our King James Bible comes from. The second line comes from Alexandria in Egypt, and this is where the NIV, ESV, NLT, LSB and the Douay-Rheims used by the Roman Catholic Church comes from. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas comes from Egypt, is not scripture, does not belong in the Bible, and is not to be trusted with its silly stories like having the young Jesus making clay pigeons and then turning them into real birds. Don’t fall for it, that’s the memo.

Experts discover earliest record of Jesus’ childhood after deciphering 2,000-year-old Egyptian manuscript

FROM THE DAILY MAIL UK: The earliest known copy of an incredible story about Jesus performing a miracle as a child has been discovered scrawled on an ancient Egyptian manuscript. The 2,000-year-old papyrus – a material that predates paper – tells the lesser-known story of the ‘vivification of the sparrows,’ when the five-year-old Messiah is said to have turned clay pigeons into live birds, a tale also referred to as the ‘second miracle’.

The clumsiness of the handwriting led the researchers to believe it was likely written as part of a class exercise in a school or religious community in 4th or 5th Century Egypt, which was a Christian society in those times. The original story of Jesus’ miracle is thought to have been written around the 2nd Century as part of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, a book detailing Jesus of Nazareth’s youth that was ultimately excluded from the Bible.

But until this discovery, the earliest written example of the gospel was from the 11th Century.

Until now, the papyrus had lay unnoticed at the Hamburg State and University Library in Hamburg, Germany.  Experts told DailyMail.com they stumbled upon the papyri while analyzing manuscripts and noticed Jesus’ name in the text.

‘It was thought to be part of an everyday document, such as a private letter or a shopping list, because the handwriting seems so clumsy,’ Dr Lajos Berkes, a co-researcher and lecturer at the Faculty of Theology at Humboldt-Universität said in a press release.

‘We first noticed the word “Jesus” in the text. Then, by comparing it with numerous other digitized papyri, we deciphered it letter by letter and quickly realized that it could not be an everyday document,’ he added.

But this gospel was omitted from the Bible because it was thought to be inauthentic. The Bible was also intended to focus solely on Jesus’ ministry, miracles and what led up to his dying on the cross. In the IGT story, Jesus is just five years old playing in a stream while molding 12 sparrows out of soft clay in the riverbed mud.

The papyrus fragment measured four by two inches and contained a total of 13 lines of a popular religious story from the IGT. Researchers said the story was likely written as part of a writing exercise in a school or monastery because of the clumsy handwriting, irregular lines and other signifiers.

‘Apart from what can be deduced from the general history of the collection, there is no evidence of how or when the papyrus was discovered,’ the researchers wrote in their article. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

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But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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Biblical Archaeology

Biblical Archaeologists Uncover The Astonishing Remains Of The Roman VIth Iron Legion Military Base At The Bottom Of Tel Megiddo

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The VIth Legion Roman legionary base at Tel Megiddo is a 2,000-year old Roman military base that was created where Revelation says Armageddon will take place

In recent years, we have brought you some amazing stories about the discoveries of biblical archaeology in the land of Israel. The past seems intent on bubbling up to the surface almost like it knows that things are getting ready to repeat. The discovery we bring you today takes place in Tel Megiddo, a location that you just may recognize as Armageddon in your King James Bible.

“And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” Revelation 16:16 (KJB)

Armageddon is one of those things that the majority of the Greek and Hebrew scholars consign to the realm of fantasy, and not seen as the location for the last battle of Antichrist at the Second Advent. So the fact that as construction is being done in Israel for Road 66, they find remains of the Roman VIth Legion at Megiddo, and Revelation 16:16 the only place in the Bible that mentions Armageddon, what does that make you think of? To me, that’s a lot of 6’s! Even the reference for Armageddon in the Strong’s Concordance is G717 which adds up to 6. Do you think the Lord is telling us something? I sure do.

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1,800-year-old Roman Legionary Base discovered at Tel Megiddo

FROM THE JERUSALEM POST: Architectural remains of the 1,800-year-old Roman VIth ‘Ferrata’ Iron Legion military base have been uncovered in a recent excavation carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) at the foot of Tel Megiddo, near the ancient Kfar Othnay village (Capercotnai in Greek).

The excavation was funded by the Netivei Israel National Infrastructure Company, said the IAA, which called it “a unique opportunity to uncover part of the full-scale Roman legionary base.”

Directed by Dr. Yotam Tepper and Barak Tzin, the dig is part of the major infrastructure project to expand and upgrade Road 66 from the Megiddo Junction to the Hatishbi Junction at Yokneam. In the course of the excavation, extensive and impressive architectural remains of the Via Pretoria (the main road of the camp) were uncovered, as well as a semicircular-shaped podium and stone-paved areas that were part of a large, monumental public building.

“The Roman Legion camp at Legio was the permanent military base for over 5,000 Roman soldiers for more than 180 years, from 117-120 BCE to about 300 CE,” said Tepper. “Two main roads intersected at the center of the 550-meter- long and 350-m-wide camp, and its headquarters were erected here. It was from this base point that all the distances along the Roman Imperial roads to the main cities in the north of the country were measured and marked with milestones. The ancient building remains were not preserved to a height, as most of the building stones were removed over the years for reuse in building projects carried out during the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods.”

“In the course of the excavation seasons, the upper part of the commanders’ courtyard (principia) was exposed southwest of Road No. 66, and in the present excavation, carried out on behalf of the IAA. We are uncovering the northeastern part of the camp that extends alongside Road No. 66.”

Coins, parts of weapons, pottery sherds, and glass fragments were uncovered, but the most predominant finds are the roof tiles that were found in extremely large quantities. “The roof tiles, some of which were stamped with the VIth Legion stamps, were used for various purposes, for roofing buildings, paving floors, and even coating walls. The technology and know-how, the building techniques, and the weapons that the Legion brought with it from the home country, are unique to the Roman army, reflecting specific Roman Imperial military footprints,” the IAA said.

Engineer Dima Pritsker, director of the northern branch of the Engineering and Development Unit in the Netivei Israel Company: “We are talking about an extremely important road project 15 kilometers long for reducing traffic congestion along the road and to improve the safety of drivers and passengers. The project incorporates the construction of the Megiddo Interchange at the junction of Roads 65 and 66. The Transport Ministry is investing 1.5 billion shekels in the project carried out by Netivei Israel. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Continue Reading

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