The Cities That Built the Bible Read online

  Some might also observe that the majority of this book deals with the composition of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. This is to be expected since approximately 75 percent of the Christian Bible is, in fact, the Old Testament.3 When Jesus quotes “the Scriptures,” he’s not quoting the Gospels, which weren’t written until at least a half century after his death; rather, he is quoting the Hebrew Scriptures, which was the Bible of the earliest Christian church. When Jesus is heralded as the promised messiah of Israel, that is not a Roman invention, but a thoroughly Jewish notion.

  As you see above, I use the term “Hebrew Bible” (abbreviated HB) to refer to the Old Testament (OT). It wasn’t until a number of centuries after Jesus that later Christians canonized the writings of early Christians and distinguished them from the accepted Jewish writings by calling them the “Old Testament” and their own Christian Scriptures the “New Testament” (NT). All quotations of biblical verses are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) unless otherwise noted, and all emphasis in Bible quotations and other quoted material is mine.

  The Masoretic Text (MT) of the Hebrew Bible is the standard, received text of the Hebrew Bible that was edited from the sixth to the eleventh centuries CE by a group of Jewish scribal scholars referred to as the Masoretes, who not only preserved and copied the Hebrew Scriptures by hand, but also added the well-known vowel vocalization system used today to pronounce the Hebrew text in a standardized way. The Masoretic Text differs from other versions of the Hebrew texts, such as the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP), the texts of the Hebrew Scriptures found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS), the Greek Septuagint (LXX, or “Seventy,” after the legend of the seventy-two scribes who supposedly translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek), and the various Aramaic Targums (Tg), which preserve the Aramaic translations of the Bible along with additional interpretations by the Aramaic-speaking Jews of the first few centuries CE.

  I’ll provide a literally transcribed English equivalent for many Hebrew personal names (e.g., Ḥizqiyahu), followed by their common anglicized form (Ḥezekiah). You will often notice small half circles raised above the letters, as in the names Ba‘al, Cana‘an, and Yisra’el (anglicized as Israel). These represent the Hebrew letters ’aleph and ‘ayin and are brief pauses in the names, rendering the pronunciations bah-al and cana-an. The dots under some of the letters are not problems with the printing press, but rather represent more intensively vocalized letters. I do all of this in an effort to show you how the names are actually pronounced in Hebrew and to entice you to learn Hebrew.

  This book proceeds in a largely chronological order. Chapter 1 begins in Phoenicia (modern Lebanon and coastal Syria) with an examination of the cities of Byblos, Tyre, and Ṣidon. In addition to giving us the word for Bible, these cities contributed both the physical materials needed for writing and the very alphabets used to write the Bible. These cities also contributed the early Phoenician deities that would become so prominent in the narrative of the Bible.

  Chapter 2 examines the city of Ugarit, the Mediterranean coastal city that not only provided evidence of the transition from Semitic languages written in pictorial and syllabic cuneiform alphabets to those written in later consonantal alphabets (like Aramaic and Hebrew), but also, like Phoenicia, provided a pantheon, or assembly of deities, that came to be worshipped throughout Cana‘an with familiar names line Ba‘al, ’Asherah, and ’El, many of which also show up in the Bible.

  Chapter 3 looks at the city of Nineveh, the capital of the ancient Neo-Assyrian Empire, which dominated Cana‘an and ultimately conquered Samaria and ancient Israel. Chapter 4 examines Babylon, the capital of the ancient Neo-Babylonian Empire, which destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple to YHWH (God’s personal name found throughout the Hebrew Bible) and ended the line of Davidic rulers in Jerusalem.

  Chapter 5 explores the city of Megiddo, which played an important role in the politics of ancient Israel and contributed one of the most famous biblical concepts known today from the New Testament book of Revelation, namely, Armageddon.

  Chapter 6 looks at Athens, which gave rise to Western civilization largely through its Platonic philosophical academy. This chapter surveys some of the philosophies that are mentioned in or had tremendous influence upon the Bible. This chapter also looks at the process of hellenization, brought to the Holy Land by Alexander the Great and his successors, which thoroughly influenced and ultimately altered Jewish theological beliefs and shaped many early forms of Christianity.

  Chapter 7 examines the city of Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, home to the famed Library of Alexandria, which provided the legendary motivation for the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, yielding the Septuagint. This chapter also provides a survey of the books that comprise the Apocrypha, which were included in the Septuagint, but were ultimately left out of the Hebrew Scriptures.

  Chapter 8 looks at Jerusalem, the capital of the ancient United Kingdom of Israel, the later Kingdom of Judah, and home of the Jewish Temple and the modern Western Wall. This chapter examines Jerusalem’s significance for the ideology and theology of the Hebrew Bible as well as its importance in the life and death of Jesus.

  Chapter 9 moves to the tiny settlement of Qumran and its significance to the Dead Sea Scrolls, which contain the earliest copies of the Hebrew Bible known to us by over a thousand years and which have altered the content of nearly every Bible published since 1950. Chapter 10 looks at the cities of Bethleḥem and Nazareth, which are inexorably linked with the birth, life, and ministry of Jesus.

  Chapter 11 examines the city of Rome, the Roman Empire, and its role in late Second Temple Judaism, the life and death of Jesus, and the birth of the early church. We discuss Paul’s Letter to the Romans as the best treatise of Paul’s gospel of Jesus and the book that more than any other shaped Western civilization. We also examine Rome’s role in the canonization of the Bible. Finally, the Conclusion summarizes what we’ve learned and shows what we can do with this information.

  Last, I reiterate my promise to you. I’ll never tell you what to think or what to believe; that is up to you. What I will do is present you with the archaeological, historical, and literary evidence that we have along with the consensus opinions of the world’s best biblical scholars, archaeologists, historians, and linguists regarding that evidence.

  Now, I hope you’ll do me a favor by not just reading the information presented in this book, but challenging it. If you’re reading the eBook, make use of the copious links to websites and definitions that I’ve included with each important term. Use the Google Earth virtual tour included at the Cities That Built the Bible website to travel virtually to these locations and view the evidence for yourself. If you have the means and the opportunity to do so, book tickets to travel to these physical places and see them for yourself. I strongly encourage you to challenge everything—and not just what you read in this book—but every claim made by a pastor, preacher, minister, scholar, rabbi, author, cable TV documentary host, or ancient-alien enthusiast to see whether what is being claimed is simply what you want to believe or reject or whether there is historical, archaeological, and literary evidence to support the claim and whether it is logical. Do this and you’re already on your way toward thinking like a critical scholar.

  And one last thing. I tell a lot of jokes and incorporate humor into every aspect of my life, both professionally and personally. I hope you’ll have as much fun reading this book as I had writing it.

  So grab a comfy spot on the couch or on a sandy beach, grab your beverage of choice, and join me as we walk through The Cities That Built the Bible.

  CHAPTER 1

  Phoenician Cities

  If we’re going to write a book about writing the book, the Bible, we have to start at the beginning. How did societies develop the skill of writing? And if we’re going to examine writing, we must begin with Phoenicia, the birthplace of Western writing, which gave us the alphabet that allowed written documents like the Bible to be writte
n at all. In fact, the early capital of Phoenicia holds claim to being the first city responsible for building the “Bible,” since it is where the Bible derives its name: Byblos. By taking a look at Byblos and the later cities of Tyre and Ṣidon, we will see how, at its most elemental level, Phoenicia is the perfect starting point for exploring how these ancient cities built the Bible.

  AN ILLEGAL DRIVE TO LEBANON

  The pinnacle of Phoenician culture was located in what is now Lebanon, and travel to Lebanon can be a bit dicey, especially if you’ve ever traveled to Israel. This is because the two countries are still technically at war, and given the hostilities between the two countries, travelers attempting to enter Lebanon with Israeli stamps in their passports will usually be denied entry. The remnants of the war between the two countries are still visible today; entire fields full of land mines are fenced off and bright yellow signs written in English, Hebrew, and Arabic still warn, “DANGER MINES!” One area, Shib‘ā Farms, is still a point of contention today, as Israel controls the land, but the Lebanese say it belongs to them.

  A sign near Banias (ancient Caesarea Philippi) in the Golan Heights near the Israeli border with Lebanon.

  In 2000, I was digging at Banias (ancient Caesarea Philippi) with a team from Pepperdine University. The dig director was Vassilios Tzaferis, who served as the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Director of Excavations and Surveys from 1991 to 2001. Vassilios and I became fast friends, and he was a mentor to me during my early years as an archaeologist. A Greek Orthodox monk who left the priesthood to marry his beautiful wife, Efti, Vassilios went on to earn his doctorate and become an archaeologist. He discovered the first evidence of a crucified man in Jerusalem—a Jewish man named Yehoḥanan ben Ḥagqol, whose ankle bone was discovered with a nail driven through it inside an ossuary (or burial bone box) bearing his name.1

  One afternoon following an exhausting day digging at Banias, Vassilios called to me, “Bob! Let’s go for a drive.”

  I didn’t ask any questions. I got in the car, and Vassilios started driving. But instead of turning south back to Kibbutz Snir (cf. Deut. 3:9), where the team had been staying, he continued on toward the west. I knew something was up when we crossed an unmarked, flattened barbed-wire fence that had been driven over repeatedly.

  “So, where are we going?”

  Vassilios responded in his deep, booming Greek voice, “Over there.”

  I looked down the winding dirt farm road on which we were driving and in the distance saw a pile of tires burning in the middle of the road. Residents of a small local village appeared to be protesting something.

  I asked Vassilios nervously, “Where are we?”

  “It depends on who you ask. Some call it Lebanon,” he replied calmly, without looking up or altering the path of our slowly progressing vehicle.

  I stoically suppressed my suddenly increasing anxiety and pointed out to Vassilios in my coolest voice possible, “Um . . . the road is on fire, and those people appear to be protesting. And did you say ‘Lebanon’?!”

  Vassilios again replied peacefully, “They’re just kids.”

  As our vehicle pulled to a stop in front of the tire fire, Vassilios rolled down the window and in perfect Arabic began speaking to one of the teenagers who approached the vehicle. They had a whole conversation. I sat nervously waiting for them to begin pelting our vehicle with the rocks they each had in their hands, but it never happened. Our fearless, peacemaking Greek leader finished the conversation, rolled up the window, turned the truck around, and began driving back to Israel.

  “They want their farm back,” Vassilios said, scanning the land around us. “They’re just farm kids, they’re angry, this is all they’ve got, and burning tires on their own property doesn’t hurt anyone.”

  Vassilios continued, “It’s complicated up here, Roberto. Don’t be afraid. They want the same thing you want: to be happy, have a job, get married, raise a family, and be left alone.”

  I always liked it when Vassilios called me Roberto. I knew he was being sincere. And it was there, in a truck that had illegally crossed into Lebanon with a colleague I admired, that I began researching and learning about the conflict between Israel and its neighbors from all sides, including that of the children who just want what all kids want: to play and not be in constant fear. This experience influenced how I read and study the Bible, especially as I look at cities, such as those in Phoenicia, that so deeply impacted the creation of the book that still causes a stir in my heart today.

  THE HISTORY OF PHOENICIA

  Before the Romans, Greeks, and Persians dominated the Mediterranean, the Phoenicians ruled the sea from 1200 to 800 BCE and made a fortune as traders throughout the area. Phoenicia is actually a Greek name from the word Phoiníke (Φοινίκη). The Phoenicians were experts in the extraction of red-purple dye from murex shells, giving us the word Phoinix (Φοȋνιξ), meaning “deep purple, crimson.” Phoenicia came to be known as the “land of purple” because of its monopoly over the production and export of its most famous product, purple-dyed cloth. The vast wealth derived from this and many other commodities and crafts traded throughout the eastern Mediterranean resulted in a collection of independent Semitic city-states in northern Cana‘an that came to be known as Phoenicia, one of the most economically prosperous cultures of the late second to early first millennium BCE.

  These Cana‘anite Phoenician states formed colonies on several Mediterranean islands, including Cyprus, Crete, Sicily, Malta, Sardinia, and Ibiza; along coastal Europe from southern Turkey to Spain; and along the entire coast of northern Africa. Their best-known colony is Carthage (modern Tunis, Tunisia, located between modern Libya and Algeria), which later became their capital. Carthaginian Phoenicians came to be known as the Punics and were rivals of Rome until their destruction as a result of the Punic Wars, fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 to 146 BCE.

  Long before the biblical kingdom of Israel existed (ca. 1000 BCE), ancient Phoenicia ruled the eastern Mediterranean and northern Cana‘an. In addition to the archaeological and nonbiblical literary evidence attesting to the wealth of Phoenicia,2 the Bible acknowledges the success of its cities. Joshua 19:29 describes Tyre as a “fortified city,” which we would expect of a major port town. Acts 21:3 records that the apostle Paul’s ship docked at Tyre, as this was one of the major coastal ports in Syria as late as the Roman period.

  And it is this success—particularly the success of its three major port towns, Byblos, Tyre, and Ṣidon—that made Phoenicia a target for neighboring nations seeking to take advantage of its economic success and therefore its political power, as we see with the Neo-Assyrian conquest of Phoenicia in 883 BCE. It was also Phoenicia’s success that made it a subject of condemnation by Israelite prophets admonishing foreign nations for their greed while the poor in Israel suffered.

  Isaiah 23 is a poem recounting the fall of Tyre and Ṣidon at the hands of the Babylonians in the seventh century BCE. In it, Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) bemoans the demise of the once proud and wealthy coastal city-states, “whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth” (23:8). The prophet states that Phoenicia will remain in this ruined state “for seventy years, the lifetime of one king” (23:15).

  So although the destruction of these three Phoenician cities at the hands of the Babylonians provided a point of reference that later Israelite prophets (including Jesus, as we’ll see later) used to scare Israelites and later Jews into behaving properly, these cities were actually far more than just historical reference points; in fact, they quite literally provided the materials for three of the most essential items for the building of the Bible: the alphabet, paper, and the Jerusalem Temple itself! Let’s start by looking at the early capital of Phoenicia, Byblos.

  BYBLOS

  Byblos served as the early capital of Phoenicia from 1200 until around 1000 BCE, when the capital was moved to Tyre. You may not recognize Byblos as a city in the Bible because it was known by a few different names
. During the Bronze Age, it was known as the Cana‘anite city Gubal. The Amarna Letters, which were correspondence between the Egyptian pharaohs in Amarna and various Cana‘anite city-states, refer to it as Gubla. The Phoenicians referred to the city as Gebal, and the Bible preserves this Iron Age (1200–586 BCE) name, referring to Byblos as Geval ().3

  However, you may recognize the city by its later Greek name, Byblos (Βύβλος), as the city lent its name to its most famous export: the book. In fact, although the earliest “paper” came from the stalks of the papyrus plants largely found in Egypt, papyrus earned its early Greek name, byblos or byblinos, from the fact that it was exported to the Aegean through the Phoenician city of Byblos. The name for paper eventually evolved into biblion (βιβλίον), the Greek word for “book, scroll,” the plural of which, biblia (βιβλία), “many books,” gave us the word “Bible.” Thus in the purest sense, the first city responsible for building the “Bible” is the very city whence the Bible derives its name: Byblos.