Second Temple Seal Used for Ritual Found at Temple Mount

By David Larsen | Published: December 27, 2011

A 2000 year-old seal with the inscription “Pure for YH (abbr. of YHWH)” was found in excavations of the foundations of the Western Wall at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem just recently. The directors of the excavation believe that it is an example of the type of seal thought to have been used in the Second Temple (Herod’s) for ritual purposes — likely to declare that an object (e.g. oil for ritual use) was fit for use in the temple.

Photographic credit - Vladimir Naykhin

 

From the press release:

Exposed- A Find Indicative of the Activity in the Temple
A first of its kind find, indicative of activity in the Temple, was recently discovered:
a tiny item that was probably used as a “voucher” certifying the ritual purity of an object or food in the Temple Mount compound and in the Second Temple

The discovery was presented at a press conference at which the Minister of Culture Limor Livnat and Minister of Education Gideon Sa’ar participated

Layers of soil covering the foundations of the Western Wall, c. 15 meters north of the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount, were excavated beneath Robinson’s Arch in archaeological excavations of the Israel Antiquities Authority in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden. On top of these layers, dating to the first century CE (the late Second Temple period), was paved the Herodian street which was the main road of Jerusalem at that time. From the very start of the excavations in this area the archaeologists decided that all of the soil removed from there would be meticulously sifted (including wet-sifting and thorough sorting of the material remnants left in the sieve). This scientific measure is being done in cooperation with thousands of pupils in the Tzurim Valley National Park, and is underwritten by the Ir David Association. It was during the sieving process that a tiny object of fired clay, the size of a button (c. 2 centimeter in diameter) was discovered. The item is stamped with an Aramaic inscription consisting of two lines – in the upper line “דכא” and below it “ליה”. “דכא” or “דכי” in Aramaic means pure. Following the preposition “ל” in the word “ליה” is the shortened form (two of the four letters) for the name of the G-d of Israel.

According to the excavation directors on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, archaeologists Eli Shukron of the IAA and Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa, “The meaning of the inscription is “Pure for G-d”. It seems that the inscribed object was used to mark products or objects that were brought to the Temple, and it was imperative they be ritually pure. This stamped impression is probably the kind referred to in the Mishnah (Tractate Shekalim 5: 1-5) as a “חותם” (seal). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that such an object or anything similar to it was discovered in an archaeological excavation and it constitutes direct archaeological evidence of the activity on the Temple Mount and the workings of the Temple during the Second Temple period”.

For more reports, see the links provided by Jim Davila at PaleoJudaica.

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A Most Remarkable DVD: My Review of FAIR’s New Book of Abraham Video

By David Larsen | Published: December 6, 2011

This has been quite long in coming, but I am happy that Tyler Livingston provided me with a copy of his new DVD that he made for FAIR (Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research), entitled “A Most Remarkable Book: Evidence for the Divine Authenticity of The Book of Abraham,” and I am pleased to share my views on it.

Upon first viewing the DVD, I was quite impressed and definitely learned things about the Book of Abraham and the process of its coming to light that I didn’t previously know.  I cannot claim to be any kind of expert on the Book of Abraham, and especially not on the material evidence or Egyptological issues, nor am I any kind of film critic, but I wanted to share my humble opinions on what I, as an interested LDS viewer, was able to get out of the DVD.  Although there were some issues with the production that I thought could have been done slightly better, my general feeling, ultimately, was that this is a valuable video — a great tool for educating both LDS and non-LDS regarding the state of the latest theories supporting the LDS belief in the Book of Abraham as divinely-inspired scripture.

Livingston, et al., were successful in bringing together those individuals that you would hope to see on such a project –most everyone who knows much about Egyptology in the Church, as well as experts on other fields that relate to the topics discussed.  The contributors include Michael Rhodes (Egyptology), John Gee (Egyptology), Michael Ash (LDS Scholar), Kerry Muhlstein (Egyptology), Kevin Barney (LDS Scholar), Jared Ludlow (Near Eastern Studies), David Bokovoy (Near Eastern Studies).  These individuals are all very good at what they do and were well-prepared to provide the latest information on these topics.  If there were anyone else I could see on there, it would have been nice to have, maybe, Brian Hauglid, Kerry Shirts, or John Tvedtnes — but the line-up they have is pretty complete.

I’ll take you through a summary of the content of the production, with highlights of some of the more interesting information.  The film basically follows a set of questions posed near the beginning.  These include:

  • Where did the Book of Abraham come from? 
  • How did Joseph Smith get the Egyptian papyri that he translated? 
  • What is the relationship between the papyri and the text of the Book of Abraham?
  • What happened to Joseph Smith’s papyri after his death?
  • Have Egyptologists translated the papyri?
  • Do Joseph Smith’s translations match the Eyptologists’ translations?
These questions seem to respond to some of the major problems and criticisms that arise in discussions of the book.  They involve issues of where the book came from and how Joseph Smith got the Book of Abraham out of a group of Egyptian scrolls that, from what material evidence we have now, seem to be concerned with Egyptian funerary rights, not stories of the patriarch Abraham.  Egyptologists have looked at what fragments we have left of these scrolls and have found nothing remotely similar to what we have in the Book of Abraham.  How do we explain this?  The DVD seeks to answer these concerns. Could they have treated other issues? Yes (and they do in the Bonus Features), but I believe that this covers the majority of the significant criticisms.  The video doesn’t always answer the above questions directly and sometimes deviates considerably into more peripheral (but still relevant) issues, but the end result is to resolve the major concerns behind these basic questions.
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I’ll briefly share some notes on the key insights from the video as it attempts to provide us with some answers.

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Jim Davila on “Ritual Praxis in Ancient Jewish and Christian Mysticism” with Responses

By David Larsen | Published: December 3, 2011

Jim Davila, my PhD supervisor, gave a paper at SBL for the new Esotericism and Mysticism in Antiquity section, entitled “Ritual Praxis in Ancient Jewish and Christian Mysticism.” The session, held jointly with the Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Early Christianity section, was presided over by April DeConick, and featured presentations and responses by Davila, Istvan Czachesz, Frances Flannery, and Rebecca Lesses.

There was a lot to enjoy in this session and I did take some notes — but I’m going to share something better than my notes. Here are links to Professor Davila’s paper, as well as responses from BYU’s Professor Bill Hamblin and Ithaca College’s Rebecca Lesses.

Jim Davila: Ritual Praxis in Ancient Jewish and Christian Mysticism

Bill Hamblin: Thoughts on James Davila’s SBL Paper

Rebecca Lesses: My response to panel on Religious and Mystical Experience at SBL

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Both Hamblin and Davila have posted other awesome stuff recently that I’ve been wanting to write about here, but haven’t managed to yet.  Check out their respective blogs to see what they’ve been up to!

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BYU Religious Education Student Symposium: Call for Papers

By David Larsen | Published: November 10, 2011

Friday, February 17, 2012

Purpose of Conference:   To provide a forum for students to research, write, and present papers 

about religious subjects from a faithful perspective.

Eligibility:   All full-time BYU undergraduate and graduate students attending BYU-Provo winter semester 2012 are invited to submit a paper.

Cash awards for winning papers:                   1st Place          $1,000.00

                                                                              2nd Place           $750.00

                                                                              3rd Place           $500.00

Plus additional cash awards

Contest Guidelines:   Papers submitted must be solely the author’s original work, faith promoting, and must not be submitted to other conferences or journals.  If accepted, each author should plan on fifteen minutes to present his or her paper.  Papers may focus on a topic of religious significance including, but not limited to, the following:

 Scriptural topics                             Doctrinal topics                   History of the Church

Ancient religious history                 Religion and family life         Family history

Teachings of living prophets           World religions

DEADLINE:   November 28, 2011 (in the Faculty Support Center, 271 JSB)


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Insights from N.T. Wright’s Inaugural Lecture: Imagining the Kingdom of God

By David Larsen | Published: October 27, 2011

Last night I had the opportunity to listen to Professor Tom Wright (a.k.a. N.T. Wright) give his Inaugural Lecture as Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity here at the University of St Andrews. Professor Wright has actually been at the university a year now and has previously given major public addresses here, but I guess this one is more official.

I share here my notes from the lecture. Please be aware that the following is based on rather skimpy hand-written notes, and so does not do justice to Wright’s elegant and precise handling of the English language, but I hope I have preserved the thrust of his arguments.  The speech was entitled:  ”Imagining the Kingdom: Mission and Theology in early Christianity.”

Wright begins by outlining how the four Gospels are remarkable documents that are still largely unknown to us. We are failing to understand the thrust of the Gospels. We need to apply our imagination and look beyond the boundaries of the various philosophies that guide our views.
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(Wright will present a fresh thesis about the Gospels)
The Gospels all tell the story of Jesus as “how God became King.” They are talking about the setting up of a theocracy over the world. Westerners react strongly to the idea of a theocracy, but this is what is meant by the talk of the “Kingdom of God” in the Gospels. The idea was that the kings of the worldly nations would be replaced with God as king. The notion of the Kingdom of God does not relate to a heavenly kingdom alone, as some have thought — we remember Jesus’ desire for things to be “on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
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Wright suggested that we should understand that the Gospels are biographies and that they do describe life in the early Church, despite the continued claims of some to the contrary. The story of Jesus doesn’t come out of thin air, but is the continuation and climax of the story of Israel. There is narrative continuity here — history may be cyclical, but it is also moving progressively toward an end — the Messianic age. Many Second Temple documents reflect this idea, including Ezra and Daniel. In Daniel, we have the expectation of the coming of the Messiah after 490 years. Different groups had different ways of calculating this. The Essenes expected it to coincide with the time of King Herod’s death. The Rabbis had a different, later calculation.

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Ascending into the Hill of the Lord: Video of My Expound 2011 Presentation

By David Larsen | Published: October 24, 2011

My thanks to Tyler Livingston for putting the following video together from my May 2011 Expound Symposium presentation.  The title of my paper was “Ascending into the Hill of the Lord: The Psalms as a Key to Understanding the Rituals of the First Temple.” Tyler has nicely worked in the power-point images from my presentation, so you don’t have to sit there for 44 minutes just watching me speak. Yes, I did say 44 minutes — and no, I’ve never been accused of being long-winded…

I share this video in memory of Matthew Brown, who was responsible for running the symposium. Many thanks also to Jeffrey Bradshaw for his feedback and helpful advice as I was preparing the paper.  I also benefited from having had the opportunity to present a version of this paper to the Biblical Studies Seminar at the University of St Andrews beforehand and appreciate all the helpful feedback received there from colleagues and faculty.

 

 

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In Memoriam: Matthew B. Brown, Popular LDS Author

By David Larsen | Published: October 7, 2011

Prolific and popular LDS author, Matthew B. Brown, was laid to rest today at the Orem City Cemetery at 1pm.  He passed peacefully through to the other side of the veil on October 5, 2011 after a brief and unexpected illness.

I only met Matthew personally fairly recently, when I participated in the Expound Conference that he organized in May, 2011.  However, I have long been a fan of his work, having been familiar with a number of his books for years, especially his first three, Symbols in Stone, The Gate of Heaven, and All Things Restored.  These books were highly inspiring to me and helped encourage me to pursue what I am doing today.  Matthew had an incredible talent for research and brought to light a wonderful wealth of information in a manner that made it accessible and exciting to a wide LDS audience.

The following is a list of some of his major publications:

Symbols in Stone: Symbolism on the Early Temples of the Restoration (1997 – Covenant Communications)
The Gate of Heaven: Insights on the Doctrines and Symbols of the Temple (1999 – Covenant Communications)
All Things Restored: Evidences and Witnesses of the Restoration (2000 – Covenant Communications)
The Plan of Salvation: Doctrinal Notes and Commentary (2002 – Covenant Communications)
Plates of Gold: The Book of Mormon Comes Forth (2003 – Covenant Communications)
Joseph Smith: The Man, The Mission, The Message (2004 – Covenant Communications)
Receiving Gifts of the Spirit (2005 – Covenant Communications)
Prophecies: Signs of the Times, Second Coming, Millennium (2006 – Covenant Communications)
A Pillar of Light: The History and Message of the First Vision (2009 – Covenant Communications)
Exploring the Connection Between Mormons and Masons (2009 – Covenant Communications)

You can also see many great papers and discourses by Matthew on the FAIR LDS website here.

Matthew’s buoyant personality, boundless energy, brilliant mind, and zeal for the Gospel will be sorely missed. He had so much that he was working on that he was eager to share with the world.  I hope that at least some of that can still come to light so that we may further benefit from his talents.

Matthew is survived by his sweet wife, Jamie.  FAIR has set up a donations page for anyone who would like to make a contribution to help out the family.

There will be a memorial service Saturday Oct. 15 at 1:00 PM at the Carterville Chapel in Orem.

For those who knew Matthew and would like to share your fond memories of him, Jamie Brown, along with Tyler Livingston, has set up the Matthew B. Brown Memorial Page on Facebook.

Some of his most recent efforts can be viewed on the webpage he recently set up, www.ExpoundLDS.com. It contains an incredible wealth of information on LDS beliefs, temples, Scripture, and many other topics.

Farewell, Matthew, dear friend! You will be greatly missed, but we know that you are received into the arms of your loved ones and into the rest of your Friend and Master, Jesus Christ and our loving Father. Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

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I’m Still Here!!

By David Larsen | Published: September 27, 2011

You may have been wondering as I have not posted anything here for about two months!! I apologize to anyone who is actually still interested in reading this blog!  Over the Summer I was compelled by my financial situation here in Scotland to get a full-time summer job, so between that and my research, I have had very little time for anything else.

Now the new Fall semester has started up again here at St Andrew, I have set aside the summer job and gone back to the school-year routine (what a relief).  This semester, I’m tutoring (basically acting as a Teaching Assistant) for the freshman Old Testament course, with Dr. William Tooman as lecturer. I am also sitting in on a class by N. Tom Wright on Paul and the Epistle to the Philippians.  Also, I am starting up an LDS Institute of Religion class here in St Andrews (there hasn’t been one here), and we will be studying the Book of Mormon course.

I don’t have much else to say at the moment. I probably still won’t be posting too frequently; as you can see from the above, I will still be very busy for the foreseeable future. I did want to alert you, if you haven’t seen these already, to some cool things that I’ve seen and read over the past little while.

Professor Jim Davila (my dissertation supervisor) on his More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project: http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2011_09_25_archive.html#4299376576250797913 (unfortunately, the links to download his interview don’t seem to be working at the moment — UPDATE: try this link http://vaca.bayradio.com/kgo_archives/?d=0 and listen to the 7-8:00 am hour)

Jim Davila on the “lost books” that are mentioned in the biblical texts: http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2011_06_12_archive.html

The Holy Temple Conferences recently held in Jerusalem, focusing on building awareness of Jewish desires to build a temple on the Temple Mount: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/148029#.ToHJJezwvzP

Modern Reenactment of the Psalms of Ascents ritual on the Southern Steps of the Temple in Jerusalem: http://www.jpost.com/Travel/Jerusalem/Article.aspx?id=238580

Google makes the Dead Sea Scrolls available online: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/from-desert-to-web-bringing-dead-sea.html?spref=tw

LDS Media Talk tells you how to build links to your website: http://ldsmediatalk.com/2007/12/22/how-to-build-links-to-your-web-site/

Finally, and on a somber note, I would like to request that you offer some prayers on behalf of my friend and colleague, Matthew B. Brown, author of many excellent LDS-themed titles, including Symbols in Stone, The Gate of Heaven, All Things Restored, and many others.  Matthew has recently had a medical emergency and would benefit from your prayers on his behalf at this time.  He is a great asset to the LDS community and we pray for his speedy and full recovery.

 

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