Category: Ancient Middle East

The Land of Milk and Honey – Agriculture in Ancient Israel

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Ancient Israel, like all other nations in antiquity, was agricultural. Understanding the agriculture is fundamental to understanding the Bible

By Mark D. Harris

In Exodus 33:3 God promised to take the Hebrews, recently freed from slavery in Egypt, to a “land flowing with milk and honey.” During my trip to Israel in March of 1995 when I approached Jerusalem, I was a little skeptical of the “milk and honey” description. Much of the land is dry and hilly, and it was warm even that early in the year. Israel more resembled where I grew up, arid Southern Calfornia, than the watered paradise I had envisaged. After many years and much study, I have come to realize that Israel truly was “a land flowing with milk and honey”, especially compared to the Arabian Desert and Egypt (beyond the Nile).

Even more important, it is impossible to understand much of the Bible without understanding the agriculture that it describes. Unlike modern industrial and information societies, in which food is so plentiful that only a small minority are involved in its production, Ancient Israel was agricultural. So was every nation around them. Every aspect of their lives, economies, religion, pleasure, and even war revolved around the cycles of nature in a way that few of us can understand.

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Church Fathers – Leaders in Early Post-Apostolic Christianity

church fathers
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The stories of the Christian Church Fathers are essential reading for any believer in Christ. They encountered many of the same struggles that we do. They helped Christianity to develop, and form a vital part of who we are.

By Mark D. Harris

I was cleaning out some boxes in the basement when I happened upon several books my grandmother had owned. They were dirty, with bindings breaking down and covers coming off. The pages had yellowed and become wrinkled and stiff with time and atmospheric moisture. Some of the texts were covered by a thin layer dust. Clearly these books had not been read for a long time. Little wonder that it should be so, because the publication dates on some were nearly 100 years old, and when I looked further inside one of them I struggled with some of the words, expressions and illustrations. Closing the book that I had opened, I placed it softly back in the box, and closed it. Someday I may open the box again and spend the time needed to study these texts and gather the needles in the haystack. Until then, whatever insight I expect to gain from these books will be lost to me because I have other “more important” things to do.

Studying the Church fathers can be very similar to opening a box full of old books. Augustine, Polycarp and Justin Martyr seem far away, out of date and unreachable to the modern Christian. Their experience with animals and gladiators in the arena seems more geared for Hollywood than it does Mainstream America. Nonetheless, the church fathers were real people in real situations and their lives, writing and experience are as relevant today as they were nearly two millennia ago.

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Restoring Apostate Christians during the Roman Persecutions

Apostate Christians and Rome
~ MD Harris Institute ~ 1 Comment

Christians sometimes broke under the pressure of Roman persecutions. In paying homage to the emperor they denied Christ. In the face of so many believers standing firm, even to the cost of their deaths, dealing with apostate Christians who wanted back into fellowship was controversial.

By Mark D. Harris

Christians had been persecuted in the Roman Empire since the Apostles, but the persecution under Emperors Decius and Valerian was more widespread and severe than before. Simply for bearing the name of Jesus, Christians faced loss of position, confiscation of property, rejection by pagan family members, and even death. Many Christians stood strong in the faith, but many lost their courage under the pressure, denied Christ, and even sacrificed to idols. The Plague of Cyprian, most likely caused by smallpox, created further suffering and confusion. After the death of Decius in 251 the persecution slackened and people who denied Christ expected to be restored to fellowship.

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Christian Apology in the Second Century

Tertullian
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Christians were accused of atheism, child sacrifice, orgies, and a host of other crimes by Roman writers. Leaders in the church such as Tertullian fought back. As Christians are falsely accused of more and more, we can look back to translate Christian apology to the modern day.

By Mark D. Harris

Contrary to the modern Western usage of the word, apology as first defined by Webster is “a formal spoken or written defense of some idea, religion, philosophy, etc.” By end of the second century AD, Christianity had grown dramatically in the Roman Empire and was clearly differentiated from Judaism, which had lost its place in the Empire as a result of the Great Revolt (66-70 AD), the Kitos War (115-117 AD), and the Bar Kochba Revolt (132-135 AD). No longer identified with Judaism which shielded Christianity from close Roman scrutiny in the earliest days (Acts 18:12-17), Christianity in the second century was a focus of great attention by non-Christians.

How Christians lived

Christians lived differently than their pagan neighbors. They kept to themselves in entertainment, worship, and even some commercial transactions such as purchasing meat sacrificed to idols. They avoided politics. Believers in Christ observed neither the traditional religious practices of the Greek and Roman gods nor the worship of the Emperor. The former made them different, but the later made them potentially treasonous in the eyes of others.

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Israel at the Time of Hosea

time of Hosea
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Students of the Bible must understand the background to Bible stories and Bible characters if they wish to grow in their faith. This article looks at Israel during the time of Hosea.

By Mark D. Harris

The Prophet Hosea (ministry 750-715 BC) lived at a time of weakness in the northern kingdom of Israel, home of the ten tribes. Within 30 years, Israel would fall to the Assyrian army, its people would be carried into exile, and Israel would cease to exist. The glory days of Jeroboam II were long over. Weak and foolish kings followed him, and the people drifted further from the Lord.

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Acts as Theological History

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The book of Acts in the Bible is reliable history. It is also reliable theology. Together, Acts is Theological History. Those who reject it do so for reasons other than academic honesty. 

By Mark D. Harris

Modern historiography, almost regardless of the topic, has a standard framework.  Whether describing a person’s life or describing an event or series of events, the modern historian will write chronologically; things that happened earlier in time will occur earlier in the article or book. Certain elements are also usually present.  A biography, for example, will almost invariably contain a chapter about the subject’s family and background, another about his birth and childhood, both early in the book, several chapters about his life’s work and contribution in the middle and then a chapter about his death at the end.   Modern authors carefully specify when and where events happened so that readers can associate what they are reading with other people and events.  Ancient history is more likely to be thematic and dialectic than modern history, and less willing to sacrifice theme for chronology.

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