"The Lord said to Abraham:" Leave your country, your people and your father's house and into the land I will show you. . . Abraham was 75 years when he left Haran. He took his wife Sarah, his nephew Lot, all the goods that had accumulated and the people who had acquired in Haran, and they headed to the land of Canaan. . . "(Genesis 12:1-5).
Have you ever wondered what exactly his father Abraham and his followers from Haran in Mesopotamia came to thisaway Promised Land? Did they ride on camels? Or would they have traveled in style - perhaps in a comfortable carriage? Find the answer on a visit to Jerusalem's unique Bible Lands Museum, currently celebrating its 15th anniversary. The only one of its kind in the world, the museum will take you on a fascinating voyage back in time to the people, countries and cultures of the Bible. Learn how ancient customs and traditions influenced our forefathers, and provided the backdrop to the Jewish religion, the Jewish spirit and the Jewish homeland.
Museum founder, the late Elie Borowski, was a genius obsessed with the idea of bringing the Bible to life. He decided to accumulate antiquities unearthed not only in the Holy Land, but from countries whose ancient cultures preceded our own. He determined to make them accessible, and understandable, to the general public. But when he started collecting in 1943, Borowski was nearly penniless. Therefore, goes the story, he borrowed the wherewithal to acquire two Assyrian seals and sold one for enough cash to repay his lender for both. The remaining seal, on display in the museum, is engraved in Hebrew with the word "leshallum." Dating back to the First Temple Period, it could refer to Shallum - the 15th King of Israel. (Shallum assassinated King Zechariah in the seventh month of his reign, took his place, and was murdered in his turn 30 days later.) As you wander through the museum's open galleries, symbolically resembling an archeological dig, you see for yourself how Father Abraham traveled to Canaan. You will also find out why the plague of darkness terrified the Egyptians of Moses' day, and how the ancients were able to keep robbers away while lying in a coffin! And you will get the answer to that burning question: how was Rebecca able to keep her make-up fresh on the long, hard journey to the land where Isaac awaited his betrothed? Archeologists believe that the patriarch's family may have traveled in a bull-driven cart exactly like a model on display in Gallery 5. Made of bronze, the model is an original that dates back to somewhere between 3000 and 2000 B.C.E. What makes it so exciting is the fact that it was found right near Haran, the city where Abraham was living when commanded to "go to the land". Possibly, says volunteer museum guide Yehuda Harel, people residing in the Middle East long ago made models of their carts and left them at home, in the belief that this would protect them on their journeys.
Gallery 1 hosts a large display of knives made of flint. Despite its strength, flint may be flaked to give it a very sharp edge - making it easy for a skilled tool maker to turn it into knives. The ancient Egyptians, who circumcised upper class teenagers, performed the surgery with knives made of flint. So did Joshua, when he circumcised the Children of Israel en masse. Why did Joshua use flint and not some other kind of stone in use at the time? Perhaps as a gesture of respect to Father Abraham, suggests Harel, for he would have performed his circumcisions with flint. Besides, iron, still rare in any case, would have become dull after only a few circumcisions and would have had to have been constantly sharpened. Flint was preferable for another reason, too: according to legend, at least, the stone contains a natural anti-biotic, highly useful for mass circumcisions! Women have been using cosmetics since the dawn of civilization. In antiquity, cosmetics were connected with cultic worship, and to appease the various gods fragrant ointments were applied to idols. Eventually this evolved into the custom of using cosmetics to improve a woman's looks.
Rebecca was a lovely young girl with perfect manners. In the Bible, Abraham sends his servant to Mesopotamia with orders to find a wife for his son Isaac among his former countrymen and relatives. After Rebecca draws water both for the servant and his camels, he becomes certain that she is the answer to a prayer. He bestows upon her a nose ring weighing over five grams, and two gold bracelets weighing even more (you can find out what they looked for in Gallery 5, which features jewelry from the same region and the same time period.)
So Rebecca begins her long voyage to Canaan, fully intending to look as beautiful as possible when she meets her future husband. Obviously, then, she needs cosmetics! To examine containers just like Rebecca's, head for the cosmetics and perfume display. Shaped like an animal, one of them has room for two kinds of eye shadow. The compartments would have been topped by two corks. Most interesting is the detachable head: when the top was lifted from the bottom it held a little make-up brush.
Strange looking clay statuettes in Gallery 9 are household gods that played an important role in the ancient world. After working for Laban for 20 years, Jacob took off for Canaan with his two wives, children and flocks. Laban spent three days hunting him down, frantic because someone in Jacob's household had stolen his idols (it was Rachel, and she sat on them so they wouldn't be discovered by her father).
Why did Rachel take them - and why were they so important to Laban? Harel explains that these small idols were believed to look after the household, and to intercede with the chief gods. But, he says, when their owner died, whoever possessed them apparently became the heir to the household. Rachel, no dummy, may have desired protection for their journey into Canaan. But she was also thinking about the future, perhaps, for she (and Leah) had bitterly - and rhetorically - asked Jacob: "Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father's estate? 5 Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. . ." (Genesis 31:14-15).
Rachel's son Joseph, sold into slavery by his jealous half brothers, eventually became second in command to the Egyptian Pharaoh. When he died, at the age of 110, his brothers embalmed him and placed him into a casket suitable for upper class burial. It probably looked very much like the elaborate coffin in Gallery 9. Belonging to a man named Pheto, it is typical of coffins used for nobles and other aristocrats. Coffins of this sort were prepared in advance, filled with precious items for use in the next world, and covered with pictures. Look, especially, for two very large eyes. They belong to the god Horus, who was shaped like a falcon and had unusually keen eyesight.
As he contemplated his eternal resting place, the Egyptian would wonder how to keep robbers away after he died. Painting Horus onto the casket meant that even after death they would be able to see a potential thief - and to send him a message: "Watch out, for I see you! And when your turn comes, I'll get you for this!" In the walkway next to Gallery 9, you can view a headless statue of Ramses II. Possibly the Pharaoh of the Exodus, he was the greatest builder of his time. His name appears in hieroglyphics inside the engraved kartush or elipse that was only used for royalty, and related to the sun god Re. The sun was all important to the ancients, and the ellipse probably symbolizes its route. In the pagan world, beliefs and traditions were based on what people could actually see. Every morning they saw the sun seem to rise out of the earth, move into the sky, take a path through the sky, and at night return into the earth. The sun god Re is represented in many different forms including that of a scarab (dung beetle) which comes out of the earth, lives its life, ages, and enters the earth again in the evening. At midnight there is a fight between Re and a terrible snake named Apophis who threatens to kill the sun god. If he does, the sun won't shine! Now can understand what made the ninth plague such a terrifying catastrophe to the ancient Egyptians. Because an Egyptian who wakes up in the morning sees no sun, he knows that the snake has won and the world is in chaos. Should the darkness continue, with no sign that his world will return, the result would be country-wide panic and dismay. Did you know that David's first wife was Michal, and that he seems to have very much in love? She may have felt differently, however. On one occasion, the Philistines had just returned the Holy Ark, and as it was "entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart." [2 Samuel 6:16]
Could a stunning ivory on display at the museum - a window with a woman's disgusted face gazing outwards - be showing us how Michal felt about her husband's dancing? It was crafted in the Middle East and dates back to about 850 B.C.E.- not too long after David's rule! Or is it, actually, a representation of Jezebel who "painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of the window." (2 Kings 9:30).
A large, broken vessel, dating back to the sixth century B.C.E., stands on a ledge in Gallery 14. "King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. . ."[Jeremiah 37:21]
Perhaps used before the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, and discovered among ruins of the city south of the Temple Mount, this jar could have carried wine, or oil - or flour for the baker baked the bread. The building in which it was found served as part of a royal administrative center in the storage area. Its inscription reads: "Belonging to the Minister ..." Maybe it was one of the ministers of the baker. . .
During the First Temple, Jews were killed, were generally buried in the caves of the family, came together after their bones were large. In Roman times, but a thousand years after they were buried in sarcophagi staff("flesh eaters" in Greek) that they had often prepared before their deaths. One sarcophagus in Gallery 18 tells a fascinating story. An inscription in Aramaic, the language written by Jews of the period, reads, "Close this up, and don't put in anyone else!" The sarcophagus was prepared while the owner was still alive, yet it was forbidden to bury two people in the same casket. Therefore, suggests Harel, the owner must have been trying to get a message across to his wife - the only person who could be the accession to it, despite the ban. So what I actually said this would "Wifey, I've had enough of you when you were in life - after death, when another regulation"
In December, visitors can enjoy a special exhibition at the museum called "The Three Faces of Monotheism", albeit with different symbols of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, also demonstrates our common heritage.
The museum is fully wheelchair accessible. Opening hours: Sun, Mon, Tue, Thu9:30-17:30; Wed 9:30-21:30; Fri 9:30-14:00; Phone 5611066. Guided tours in English (Highly recommended and included in your entrance fee!) daily at 10:30. Note: The museum shop features unique and wonderful gifts.
Reference : www.thaisabuy.com
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