THE LORD SPOKE (March 28)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: Joshua 6-7

She said he was all wrong. When John Garstang announced to the world in the early 1930's that he’d found the walls of Jericho that came tumbling down, he was excavating for the newly formed Department of Antiquities under the British Mandate. Kathleen Kenyon dug at Jericho under a similar license in the 1950's but had a very different objective. Though she contributed very significantly to modern scientific excavation procedures (we still call stratigraphic excavating the “Wheeler-Kenyon Method”), it’s fair to say that her anti-biblical bias frequently showed. She often dug, and reported her digging, as though no one ever excavated before her and it was certain that none could ever improve on her results.

In the case of Jericho, Kenyon flippantly disregarded all of Garstang’s work. According to her, not only did he not find the walls that came tumbling down, there wasn’t even a city at Jericho during the time that he (and the Bible) says Joshua attacked it. She drew her plans and her conclusions without any respect for the one existing historical document that tells the story of Jericho. She dismissed Scripture with contempt. Yet in her own site maps and sectional drawings the evidence is there. The pottery fits the biblical record and there is ample Late Bronze evidence for a city. In fact, she found solid Middle Bronze wall foundations with “burned mudbrick” at the outside base. That’s exactly what should be expected from the biblical account of the city being destroyed and burned during the Late Bronze period.

Ultimately, the truth of Scripture does not depend on Kenyon, or Garstang, or any other outside collaborating source. That is not to say it is some sort of spiritual or mystical religious “truth", unverifiable and above analysis or beyond our powers to test it. As Francis Schaeffer would say, the Bible gives us “true truth”. It is verifiable, not some blind leap in the dark. Because it is God’s revealed Word, it is trustworthy. You may read it with confidence - even when it talks about the walls of Jericho tumbling down.

The Bible stands like a rock undaunted
'Mid the raging storms of time;
Its pages burn with the truth eternal,
And they glow with a light sublime.

The Bible stands like a mountain towering
Far above the works of men;
Its truth by none ever was refuted,
And destroy it they never can.

The Bible stands every test we give it,
For its Author is divine;
By grace alone I expect to live it,
And to prove and to make it mine.

The Bible stands though the hills may tumble,
It will firmly stand when the earth shall crumble;
I will plant my feet on its firm foundation,
For the Bible stands.
Haldor Lillenas


New Testament: John 19

No one questions the fact of crucifixion; we just don’t have much archaeological evidence for it. Josephus gives details of multiple crucifixions. On one occasion he records that there were 800 Pharisees crucified at one time (Antiquities of the Jews 12:256). Another ancient account refers to 6,000 prisoners of war being crucified along the Via Appia, as part of a victory celebration (Bella Civilia I.120).

But in all the studies done on the subject, there has been only one case of crucifixion found so far archaeologically. It involves the ossuary (bone box) of one “Yehohanan, son of Hagakol”, found in 1968 on the Mount of Olives (Giv’at ha-Mivtar). Inside were the decayed remains of a Jewish man.

The evidence produced was astounding. Yehohanan’s feet had been pulled together with a single spike driven through them. Apparently the nail hit a knot, for the tip was curled in such a way that it couldn’t be removed from the ankle bones so he was buried with the spike still there. A rubbed spot between the bones of the wrists gave evidence for where his “hands” had been nailed to the cross. In Hebrew the term yad means “hand” but can include most of the appendage that we would refer to as “arm”.

A further detail found among Yehohanan’s remains also casts light on our understanding of crucifixion. His leg bones had been broken with a blunt instrument of some sort. The break was diagonal, indicating that the legs had been drawn slightly upwards. The cross behind them had produced the shattered diagonal fracture when the club crushed Yehohanan's legs.

Death by crucifixion was slow and filled with intense pain. Publicly exposed, usually along a road near a town, the victim would often hang for hours before dying. Death was the result of asphyxiation but it was soon discovered that by spreading the hands farther apart it could be delayed. In some cases, the cross had a small perch on which the victim could momentarily relieve the pressure on his hands or on his feet by pushing against it. Rather than provide comfort, it prolonged the agony and death which then might come from loss of blood.

Jesus’ crucifixion was humiliating and painful beyond our imagination. As the blood drained from His body, He spoke little. Clearing His throat after the vinegar-soaked hyssop was put to His lips, He cried out. All three synoptic Gospels say He cried out “with a loud voice”.

His words constitute our glorious hope and assurance of salvation - “It is finished!”