Tanach Thoughts

 Crazy theory time: Bnei Yisrael knew what to do with their weapons. In Shemot 13:18 it says: "Now the Israelites went up armed..." If we follow the plainer interpretation of the word 'chamushim', then it will mean 'armed' as used in this translation, rather than 'one-fifth of the Israelites left Egypt'. So, Bnei Yisrael left Egypt armed. Usually people hear this and think: Oh, so a bunch of slaves who knew nothing about fighting took weapons with them. Well, good luck with that. Here's where my theory comes in: Actually, at least some of them knew how to use these weapons. The evidence is as follows: Bnei Yisrael had lived in Goshen, on the Egyptian-Sinai border. It is doubtful that the Egyptians, who didn't mind killing them left-and-right, would have taken the time and resources to defend this slave-province from raiders. So more likely, the Israelites set up their own guard system. We find that shortly after the Exodus, the Israelites face...

 No...this is not a post about that infamous Israeli cootie ...Kinah is a town or city mentioned in Yehoshua 15:22 as being on the border between Yehudah and Edom. Though we did not go to the ruins of the actual town last Thursday, we did go to the ruins of the fortress that guarded the town and also collected toll payments from merchants that travelled the "Spice Road" that passed near Kinah. The fortress is presumed by most to have been built around the time of King Yoshiyahu (end of the Assyrian period), but a doctorate student who came with us said that her doctorate involves, among other things, her hypothesis that the fortress was actually built earlier than that - during the Neo-Assyrian period. Kinah, on the other hand, we know from Tanach, is much older than that. And, get this - it's possible that the name is related to the Kenites who, according to Shoftim 1:16 came out of the City of Dates and settled near Arad (Kinah being near Arad)! In Hebrew - קיני - קינ...

Every Thursday the Bar Ilan archeology department organizes a trip for the students to a historical site here in Israel. We need to complete a certain number of such trips to be able to complete our degree. You don't have to come to every single one, you just have to make sure that at some point you complete the required number. Last Thursday we were supposed to go to Tel Arad, Tel Sheva and Tel Lachish, but due to heavy traffic, our lecturer decided to change the trip to over two hours in Tel Lachish (instead of 15-30 minutes as generally happens on this particular trip) and then we went to Tel Burna, which was cool, because typically archeology students don't go to Tel Burna. It's not one of the most famous and significant sites and has barely been excavated. (my sketch of Tel Lachish at a distance) I wanted to share something cool about Lachish. Lachish is probably most famous for being the most important city captured by Sanchariv during his conquest of Judea (which end...