Your special Sabbath flower/plant for today...

NAME/TYPE OF FLOWER:

False Sunflower.

[ Wishing you a glorious and beautiful Sabbath. ]

OSTRACON

Qeiyafa Aerial Photo

Qeiyafa Area B

Proto-Sinaitic Pictograms.

SABBATH - 03-06-10

Theme: A Recent Discovery: The Oldest "Hebrew" Writing Found in the Valley of Elah.

-------------------------------------

As some of you know, I subscribe to The BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW Magazine. (It is published by the Biblical Archaeology Society - a non-profit nondenominational, educational and charitable organization.)

In their latest issue (March/April 2010 V.36, No.2), they printed an article about the latest find in Israel. An Ancient script that dates to the time of King David. The article title is: "Prize Find: Oldest Hebrew Inscription"

During the summer of 2008, Professor Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University started a new excavation at Khirbet Qeiyafa, located in the Elah Valley southwest of Jerusalem. In an amazing first season, Garfinkel and his team discovered a fortified Judahite city from the Iron Age IIa (1000–900 B.C.). Pottery styles and carbon dating at the site place occupation in the early tenth century—the time of King David. This supports the traditional belief that David established the nation state of Israel at the beginning of Iron Age II. In addition to the carbon dating, this fortified Judahite city was occupied during this period only and then was abandoned (until the Hellenistic period), so there is no question about the dating.

The Elah Valley is mentioned in the Bible as the place where the young shepherd David met the Philistine warrior Goliath in combat (1 Samuel 17). Qeiyafa overlooks this valley, situated between the ancient cities of Azekah and Socoh (Joshua 15:35; 1 Samuel 17:1). Qeiyafa lies just 6.5 miles from the Philistine city of Gath and was probably a fortified border town between the hostile kingdoms of Philistia and Judah.

AN OSTRACON WAS FOUND IN THE RUINS

What is an "ostracon?" Text written on a pottery sherd. In this case, it was ink. Unfortunately, with all of the modern technical advances in photography, as well as in epigraphy and paleography, they cannot get a meaningful reconstruction of the text of this inscription. The letters are faint, and the ostracon is broken.

The letters are what scholars call "Proto-Canaanite" or "Proto-Sinaitic." Essentially, they are the same crude alphabet letter forms derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs, as described in the article, "How The Alphabet Was Born From Hieroglyphs." The letters are still pictorial, basically pictures.

Misgav describes the subsequent developement of this pictorial alphabetic script found:

"The next phase in the development of the alphabetic system was identified in Byblos, on the northern coast of Lebanon; this script was labeled Phoenician. This was the phase during which the alphabetic script was srtipped of all its pictographic qualities."

This script is also written from left to right, rather than right to left which Hebrew later adopted.

-BAR

<-----------

I am unable to re- type the entire article, but what I have typed is the general message of the article.

CONCLUSION:

The Hebrew language was a language that had evolved from Canaan and/or Eqypt. This conclusion is also based on the additional BAR article, "How The Alphabet Was Born From Hieroglyphs." And, from my e-mail discussions with Fred Miller (about a year or so ago) - one of the Dead Sea Scroll translators for the books of Isaiah.

The following chart graphic is from BAR showing the alphabet evolution.

I hope that you enjoy today's article as much as I have. May your studies be enriched, and may you have a blessed Sabbath.

~Felicia Trecek.
03-06-10