It’s finally happened. Merriam-Webster, Macmillan Dictionary, and Google have done it. Even the Cambridge Dictionary and the revered Oxford English Dictionary have done it. Done what? All these dictionaries have said that literally no longer has to mean “used for showing that what you are saying is really true and is not just an impressive way of describing something.” …
“Walled up to Heaven”
When the spies visited Hebron, they found a city “walled up to heaven.” (Deut 1:28) They found out why—the city was inhabited by the Anakim. It’s complicated to explain the Anakim, and there are several theories still very much in play, but here is what I have learned as best as I understand it. (It’s helpful to know the –im …
The Original Tract Housing
When archeologists excavated Arad, they found many stone dwellings in what seemed to be a residential area. Streets and alleys ran between the blocks of houses that were of differing sizes (500 to 1500 square feet), but they were nearly identical: a walled courtyard, a long living room and a small or kitchen. The rectangular living room was open to …
Arad—Not Your Average City on a Hill
In Numbers 13, Moses sends spies to check out the Promised Land. The Scriptures do not tell us which cities the scouts visited, but we can guess they took they most common route through Canaan, and visited the biggest cities along that route. The first city the spies are likely to have reached is Arad. Arad was a prosperous and …
In the Footsteps of Abraham
Just a few verses in Numbers 13 presage a major turning point in the life of the young nation of Israel. Twelve men are chosen to be the first ones to enter the Promised Land and report back. The twelve spies left Kadesh-Barnea and went north into Canaan. They were instructed to “go up through the Negev and on into …
The Other Ten …
Everyone knows Joshua and Caleb were the two spies who believed God when He said the Israelites could conquer Canaan. But what about the other ten? Who were they? What happened to them? All their names are listed in Numbers 13. They were all leaders of their tribes. So what happened? Why did they fail to trust God? The Bible doesn’t tell …
Joshua vs Jerusalem
I was finishing drama #8 last night in my series on the life of Joshua for Christ to the World Ministries. This particular episode dealt with what is often known as Joshua’s “longest day”—the day he ordered the sun to stand still. Many of us know that Joshua, in the heat of battle, commanded the sun to remain in place, …
Meri – from Captive to Cherished
This is the first scene where Bezalel actually is able to speak to Meri in In the Shadow of Sinai. Meri was forced to be a concubine in Ramses’s harem. He took in a sharp breath. She was even more beautiful than he remembered her. Without her heavy kohl makeup, her deep brown eyes seemed to take up her whole …
Meet Ahmose
This is Ahmose. An orphan-slave in Ramses’s palace, befriended by Bezalel, in Sinai he finds his forever family. He returns in By the Waters of Kadesh. Below are excerpts from some of our first encounters with him in Sinai. It was late in the evening, long past the time he normally went home, but Bezalel had stayed a little later …
Meet Kamose
This week I’ll introduce you to Kamose—or you can catch up with him if you met him in Sinai. Kamose was the captain of the guard in the palace in Egypt. He escaped with the Israelites in the Exodus. Kamose brushed the dust from his face, dust kicked up by hundreds of thousands of sandaled feet, hooves, and wooden wheels. …