Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 2014
Features
Where Is Mount Sinai?
The Case for Har Karkom and the Case for Saudi Arabia
“It may well be that I have done no more than weave, in the words of George Eliot, ‘an ingenious web of probabilities—the surest screen a wise man can place between himself and the truth.’1 Perhaps final truth in archaeology is unattainable, but it is certain that...Read more ›
Archaeology Confirms 50 Real People in the Bible
“How Many?” is a popular feature in each issue of BAR. In effect, this article is an extended example of a “How Many?” How many people in the Hebrew Bible have been confirmed archaeologically? The startling answer is at least 50! Let’s start with the Hebrew kings...Read more ›
Modi’in: Hometown of the Maccabees
I think we have found Modi’in—not for sure, but very probably. Modi’in is famous as the home of the Maccabee family—Mattathias and his five sons, who led the Jewish revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Seleucid ruler of Judea, in the 160s B.C.E. When Antiochus desecrated the...Read more ›
With & Without Straw: How Israelite Slaves Made Bricks
“Pharaoh charged the taskmasters and foremen of the [Israelites], saying, ‘You shall no longer provide the people with straw for making bricks as heretofore. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. But impose upon them the same quota of bricks as they have been making heretofore;...Read more ›