Digging @ Ashkelon: Post 1

My time in Ashkelon has been going well. I am currently digging in Grid 38 of the Tel dealing with Iron 1A material. I am learning a ton about judging soil and tracing floors in the Philistine home we are working in. I’ve learned much about Philistine architecture during my time so far as well as general archaeological technique.

The primary tools for archaeology are a trowel, a pick, a piteesh, and a turia, as well as a brush and dust pan. The team I am working with is incredibly knowledgeable with students from Harvard, Wheaton, Penn State, UW Madison, UC Berkley, and Princeton. I am humbled with the intelligence and diligence with which the team works. They have patiently explained and reexplained techniques to me.

I’ve been working on two primary activities so far. First, I worked to locate the floor of the home we are working in for the phase 20 occupation. This is one of the earliest of the Philistine occupation of Ashkelon. Remember, the Philistines were part of the Sea People invasion throughout the Levantine coast and into Egypt. Their presence is attested in the Medinet Habu relief. There are wearing feathered headdresses and are using Bronze and Iron weaponry. The Philistines are believed to have originated from Greek Peninsulas. Egypt repelled the Sea People invasion and allowed the Philistines to settle along the Levantine coast. There they thrived in the rich coastal soil and functioned as the bane to the hill dwelling Israelites. The common home we are excavating is from the time period of early occupation in 12th century BCE. My task of locating a floor was truly difficult in picking my way through several layers until the beaten, earth floor was located. It can sometimes be identified by flat laying pottery sherds (flat because they are on the floor of the level), a horizontal tree root growing, and a white residue indicating foliage. Our excavation director assisted me in locating this floor and I worked to find it from there tracing it throughout my day.

A highlight was my find of a tiny, deity amulet used to ward off evil spirits from children. This amulet piece has two holes in its ears so that it can be strung and worn as a necklace. This was the second found in this location, and I was able to display this stunning, accidental find to my team members (who helped me learn what is was) and the acclaimed Dr. Lawerence Stager. (pictured above)

My second activity has been tracing the platform of a sherd hearth. This would be used to heat food in the household. It is interesting in that it is located near a large column. The hearth was found, and I spent the day following ash remains and sherds until the corners and ends of the platform became apparent. I then worked to lower surrounding fill to the same phase 20 floor level. While I certainly cannot claim to be an expert nor the true impetus of these great finds, I can say that I am an eager student who is learning every moment from the field archaeologists around me.

Psalm 119: Functions of the Word

The Word of God is described by each of these terms. While the Torah certainly dominates this psalm, it may very well envision the entire Tanakh if this is late in composition. Thus, it seems quite likely to envision all of the Old Testament. Its canonical life certainly declares all of the OT as fitting these descriptions, though it may be possible to consider the entire Christian Scriptures as related since canonically the testaments are joined. Thus, the revealed, Holy Bible is each of these things to us as Christians.

Your Law(s)
Your Ancient Laws
Your Righteous Laws
Your Law(s)
Your Statutes
Your Precepts
Your Commands
Your Decrees
Your Ways
Your Word of truth
Your Word(s)
Your Name
Your Promise(s)

If the Scriptures are each of these things then one must be reminded that diversity and unity are seen in this list. First, it is unifying how all of these are in relation to the LORD (YHWH). Secondly, the diversity is seen in the various expressions that emphasize the Word as a legislative, prescriptive entity (laws, statutes, precepts, commands, and decrees). The Word also functions as a guiding, instructive entity (ways). The Word must be understood as actual speech from the LORD (Words). It also is intricately linked with YHWH Himself, so that the Word is tied to His Name. Finally, the Word is a means of hope by the way in which YHWH has used His speech –namely Promises.

As Eugene Peterson says, “We do not come to God by guesswork: God reveals himself. These scriptural words reveal the Word that created heaven and earth; they reveal the Word that became human flesh in Jesus for our salvation. God’s word is written, handed down, and translated for us so that we can enter the plot. We hold these Bibles in our hands and read them so that we can listen and respond to these creating and saving words and get in, firsthand, on the creating and saving.”

Eugene H. Peterson. Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006, 20.

Calvin’s Institutes on the Restraint of Sin in the Unbeliever

I have been intrigued in reading through the Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin on the pervasive reach of Calvin in trickle-down effect to much my own theological training (though often unacknowledged). I also find his relevance remarkable and inspiring. In Book 2 chapter 3 Calvin speaks of God’s grace in restraining sin. He has already made a strong case for the universal depravity of humanity and the totally tainted will that cannot help but sin. Then in discussing God’s grace in the restraining of sin.

“But here it ought to occur to us that amid this corruption of nature there is some place for God’s grace; not such grace as to cleanse it, but to restrain it inwardly. For if the Lord gave loose rein to the mind of each man to run riot on his lusts, there would doubtless be no one who would not show that, in fact, every evil thing which Paul condemns [in Romans 3] all nature is most truly to be met in himself.”

“If every soul is subject to such abominations as the apostle boldly declares, we surely see what would happen if the Lord were to permit human lust to wander according to its own inclination. No mad beast would rage as unrestrainedly; no river, however swift and violent, burst so madly into flood.”

Calvin speaks of ways that unbelievers are restrained in their sin from this torrent of depravity overflowing to as bad as it can get. He explains that some are restrained by being bridled, others restrained by shame, others by fear of the law, some due to the honest way seeming more profitable, and finally others try to be better than the rest.

These descriptions of restraint explain much of the ways unbelievers perform common goodness, yet they themselves are not regenerated. It is these signs of restrains that we Christian ministers must use when explaining the gospel so that an unbeliever does not mistake some form of restraint from actual moral goodness.


John Calvin. The Institutes of Christian Religion. edited by John McNeill. Reissued. Vol. 1. Louisville, KY: WJK, 2006, 292.