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Not on Bread AloneIsrael is mostly rugged desert. The variety of Hebrew words for desert or wilderness indicates the significant role the landscape played in biblical history and imagery. For the Hebrews, the desert was far more formative than the...
MOREThis olive installation is located at the modern-day city of Maresha in southern Judea. Its appearance and location in a cave are typical of ancient presses. Oil installations were commonly placed in caves because the more moderate temperatures im...
MOREOlive trees rarely reach 20 feet high. This ancient tree, with is gnarled trunk, is still very productive after 100 or more years of bearing olives. The root system of olive trees spreads wide to obtain the necessary moisture in Israel's relativel...
MOREOlive oil was highly valued by the people of first-century Israel. They used it in food preparation and preservation, in medicine, and in cosmetics. Olive oil was also used to lubricate wheels and hinges. Its most important use, however, was proba...
MOREThe olive tree is one of the plants most frequently mentioned in the Bible. Scripture writers used olive tree imagery to describe Jesus' Jewish roots and the relationship of Jews and Gentiles.When an olive tree gets very old (often hundreds of yea...
MORECertainly not all people who lived in this fertile area were religious or even Jewish. But it is clear that most inhabitants of the sea's northwestern side were very religious;a fact supported by the many synagogues discovered there.Jesus conducte...
MOREOssuaries Beginning shortly before Jesus' time, Jewish people began to practice reburials. After the flesh had decayed from the bones of a person who was buried, the bones were collected and placed in a small box, an ossuary, like the one shown he...
MORECalled to Pursue Our First LoveAccording to Matthew 22:37-38, believers in Jesus the Messiah are to love the Lord with all their heart, soul and mind (strength). Yet, according to Romans 13:8-10, 1 John 2:9-11, 3:10-11, and other biblical passages...
MOREPagan GodsSurrounded by pagan neighbors, God's people often encountered people who worshiped other gods. Baal, Asherah, and other fertility gods played a significant role during Old Testament times.By Jesus' day, the baals were replaced by Greek a...
MOREThe Passover For the Jewish people, Passover was more than a religious observance. It was the time of year when they celebrated liberation from Egyptian bondage.During Jesus' time, they also used this opportunity to express their longing for polit...
MORESomething given to God to worship him. In the Old Testament, God's people offered food and animals to God. In the New Testament, Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice to God for us. Followers of Jesus serve God with their whole lives as an offering...
MOREA short story that is told to show how one thing is like another. Most of the parables in the Bible are stories used by Jesus. These parables teach us what the kingdom of God is like.
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