Bible Study Magazine—March–April 2019 Issue

Why Archaeology Matters for Bible Study: Recent Discoveries Sharpen Our View of the Ancient World

Does archaeology matter? It certainly does! Archaeology can clarify or correct our assumptions and conclusions about the past. Sometimes archaeology confirms the events described in ancient narratives. This is especially so in the case of biblical archaeology. The discipline has been called “biblical archaeology” for more than a century precisely because the Bible and archaeology have a mutually clarifying relationship. The Bible provides helpful information for the archaeologist, such as where to dig and how to understand what is unearthed, and archaeology provides helpful information for the Bible scholar, clarifying events, customs, and fi gures described in the text. Although in the early and mid-20th century archaeologists were often motivated to prove this or that about the Bible, archaeology has since matured. Archaeologists now go about their work asking how their discoveries clarify the world of the Bible.

—Craig A. Evans

Bridging Christian Traditions in Ethiopia: In Orthodox and Evangelical Churches, Meron Gabreananaye is Preparing to Elevate the Teaching of Scripture

Meron Gabreananaye’s first impression of Scripture was influenced by her mother’s large Orthodox Bible. Rare and expensive, it was wrapped in cloth and displayed in a prayer niche. It was never read. “In the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition,” she says, “Scripture is elevated to the extent that you are not expected to read it as a layperson. It’s supposed to be interpreted to you through other mediums. I thought of Scripture as unapproachable, dense, and very scary.” Gabreananaye (pronounced ga-BRAH-na-nay) grew up in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, a city of more than 3 million people. She attended Saturday morning liturgical services with her devout, Orthodox mother, but she also attended an evangelical church with her uncle. Her experience there was vastly different. “We had abridged Bibles and freely engaged with the biblical characters and the biblical story,” she says. “We were encouraged to understand it as much as we could.” These disparate approaches left a mark on Gabreananaye’s spiritual understanding. “For the longest time, it never clicked that this was the same Bible.”

—Rebecca Van Noord

Wrestling with Revelation

Through windows, televisions, and internet portals, my view of the world looks bleak. Conflicts erupt across the globe; protests escalate into riots. The global refugee crisis continues to expand, and injustices in refugee camps call out to us. Shooters invade schools, synagogues, mosques, churches. In my own life, the past few years have seen my mother’s descent into dementia, then her sudden death by cancer, and the suicide of my younger brother. It often feels as if the darkness is overcoming the light. The book of Revelation was written during dark times, and it can be a tough book to read. It is full of diffcult symbolism, controversial timelines, and startling images of catastrophe. The book’s name in Greek, Apocalypsis (from which we get our word “apocalypse”), conveys a sense of uncovering something that is hidden. What is hidden from us, and what does Revelation reveal?

—Aubry Smith

When Appearances Aren't Misleading'

In Hebrews 13:2 the writer instructs his audience, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” The context for the writer’s admonition is the Old Testament, where we find several stories about angels appearing to people (e.g., Gen 19:1–22; Judg 6:11–27). It is noteworthy that, in those stories, angels had no distinctive visual features that would have identifi ed them as angels. The people with whom the angels interacted thought the angels were men—at least until they did something beyond human ability (Gen 19:11; Judg 6:21). These angels didn’t have wings. They looked like normal men.

—Michael S. Heiser