g area into which the family cow or donkey is brought at night (Arabic ka’al-bayt). The family animals were kept in the one-room house at night,

of the house. With calm assurance Jesus could announce to his face that he did, in fact, lead his animals out that very morning, confident there would be no reply. Were animals kept in a separate stable, the head of the synagogue could have saved face by asserting firmly, “I never touch the animals on the Sabbath.” But if he tried to claim that he leaves the animals in the house all day, the people in the synagogue would ridicule him with laughter! In short, no one would believe him. Thus the debate ends simply, “As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame” (v.17). Thus, in the case of Luke 2:7, any Palestinian reading the phrase, “She laid him in a manger,” would immediately assume that the birth took place in a private home, because he knows that mangers are built into the floor of the raised terrace of the peasant home. This assumption is an important part of the story. The shepherds were told that the presence of the baby in a manger was a sign for them. Shepherds were near the bottom of the social ladder and indeed, their profession was declared unclean by some of their rabbis.10 Many places would not welcome them. In many homes they would feel their poverty and be ashamed of their low estate. But no—they faced no humiliation as they visited that child, for he was laid in a manger. That is, he was born in a simple peasant home with the mangers in the family room. He was one of them. With that assurance they left with haste. The details of the one-room peasant home with its manger in the floor have not gone unnoticed. William Thomson,long- term Presbyterian missionary in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, wrote in 1857: It is my impression that the birth actually took place in an ordinary house of some common peasant, and that the baby was laid in one of the mangers, such as are still found in the dwellings of farmers in this region.11 The two leading 20th century authorities on Palestinian life and the New Testament are Gustaf Dalmann and E.F.F. Bishop. Bishop comments on Luke 2:7 and writes: Perhaps...recourse was had to one of the Bethlehem houses with the lower section provided for the animals, with mangers “hollowed in stone,” the dais being reserved for the family. Such a manger being immovable, filled with crushed straw, would do duty for a cradle. An infant might even be left in safety, especially if swaddled, when the mother was absent on temporary business.12 Dalmann, in his study of the same verse, records: In the East today the dwelling place of man and beast is often in one and the same room. It is quite the usual thing among the peasants for the family to live, eat, and sleep on a kind of raised terrace (Arab. mastaba) in the one room of the house, while the cattle, particularly the donkeys and oxen, have their place below on the actual floor (ka’ al-bet) near the door.... On this floor the mangers are fixed either to the floor or to the wall, or at the edge of the terrace.13 Dalmann himself has nearly 100 pages of photographs and scale drawings of a wide variety of such peasant homes, all of which fit his two-level description given above.14 Thus a peasant home is the natural place for the Holy Family to have found shelter and the expected place to find a manger. In the case of Luke 2:7 the home which entertained the Holy Family presumably was not expecting a baby and did not have a cradle, but with a manger built into the floor there was little need for one.15 So why has this rather obvious alternative remained obscured? In some cases it would seem that the cultural assumptions of the exegetes have set it aside. In spite of the above quotation, Dalmann defends the traditional “lonely birth in a stable” for culturally revealing reasons. Dalmann feels Joseph could have had space in the inn, but “no room for them” means “no suitable room for the birth” (italics mine).16 Dalmann argues that neither “inn,” nor “guest house,” nor “private home” would have provided the necessary privacy, and thus Joseph must have sought out and found an empty stable.



In defense of his views Dalmann writes
Anyone who has lodged with Palestinian peasants knows that notwithstanding their hospitality the lack of privacy is unspeakably painful. One cannot have a room to oneself, and one is never alone by day or by night. I myself often fled into the open country simply in order to be able to think.17 The amazing part of Dalmann’s remarkable discussion is the assumption that the Holy Family wanted to be alone. Rather, it is the German professor who finds the lack of privacy “unspeakably painful,” not the Palestinian peasant. For the Middle Eastern peasant the exact opposite is true. To be alone is unspeakably painful. He does his thinking in a crowd. Naturally, in the case of a birth, the men will sit apart with the neighbors, but the room will be full of women assisting the midwife.18 A private home would have bedding, facilities for heating water and all that is required for any peasant birth. Dalmann’s Western sense of the need for privacy has led him to misread his own meticulously gathered data. His conclusion, that the need for privacy would have forced Mary and Joseph to reject the option of either inn or home in preference for an empty stable, is truly incredible when seen from a Middle Eastern point of view. Brown observes that in inns people slept on a raised terrace with the animals in the same room. He remarks, “The public inns of the time should not be pictured as snug or comfortable according to medieval or modern standards.19 This we grant. But our point is that a room full of people sleeping together with the animals on a lower level in the same room is snug and comfortable in the eyes of the traditional Middle Eastern gregarious peasant, even in modern times. These reservations can be set aside; and we can say in summary that all aspects of the story, from the precise requirements of the text, to the structure of the peasant home, the dynamics of the extended family, and the sociology of the peasant village, point to a birth in a private home. 1800 view of Bethlehem as it looked and was drawn by the writer J. Leslie Porter who spent years living in Palestine. This brings us to the second half of our inquiry. What, then, was the “inn”? The traditional understanding of Luke 2:7b, “For there was no place for them in the kataluma,” is that Joseph went to the local commercial inn and was turned away, and then sought shelter in a stable, perhaps the stable of the inn itself. This understanding is seen here as inadequate, from both a cultural and linguistic point of view. In this section we will try to demonstrate that the crowded kataluma was most probably the “guest room” of the home in which the Holy Family found lodging. This key word, kataluma, which in the West is traditionally translated as “inn,” has at least five meanings. Three of these— “inn,” “house,” and “guest room” —are worth considering in connection with Luke 2:7, and must be examined in turn. First is the traditional &ldquRosetta Stone Spanish

t be counted among the rebels—would abandon his kiln and forsake 22 of his valuable wares that would provide his livelihood upon relocating to a

Ben-Tor was not the first to find evidence of the violent destruction of LB-I Hazor atop the tel, as Yadin found it also. Adjacent to the king’s palace in Area A, a rectangular building dubbed the Long Temple was uncovered during Yadin’s excavations. The plan of this possibly “royal temple” is architecturally similar to that of Megiddo VIII, and it had an east-west orientation with an entrance on the eastern side. Several cultic installations were found all around the perimeter of the ruined temple, and particularly noticeable were many pits containing sacrificial remains (animal-bones, and large quantities of votive bowls within and outside the building). The remains of this important LB-I temple were covered by a thick layer of brick debris, indicating not only its destructive end but its abandonment and non-use in subsequent periods. While Yadin believed that the Long Temple was used in both the MB II and LB I Age (Yadin, The Head, 102–103), a closer analysis of this structure and related architectural elements has demonstrated that it was constructed in and confined to the LB I Age, not to mention the fact that the temple was found to be built on LB-I remains, which prohibits its use during the MB Age (Ruhama Bonfil and Raphael Greenberg, Hazor V: An Account of the Fifth Season of Excavation, 1968, ed. Amnon Ben-Tor and Ruhama Bonfil (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1997], 85, 89; Aren M. Maeir, In the Midst of the Jordan:: The Jordan Valley during the Middle Bronze Age [Circa 2000–1500 BCE], Archaeological and Historical Correlates [Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2010], 44–45). In fairness to Yadin, he was correct, and the later authors of Hazor V, who suggest that the temple was not abandoned until the LB II period, were in error regarding the terminal use of the temple. All of the vessels on the temple’s floor date to the LB I phase, and the only LB-II vessels found in the vicinity were on the course of the broken wall. In addition, the placement of a later “installation” that was used during both phases of LB II—in which a tall basaltic stele dating to the earlier phase and several small stelae dating to the later phase were found—in the immediate vicinity of the Long Temple should not be used as a basis for declaring the temple’s continued use into the LB II Age.50. Yadin, The Head, 141.51. See “2000 Excavation Report,” on the webpage http://unixware.mscc.huji.ac.il/~hatsor/hazor.html. Bracketed insertions were added in order to clarify various identifications that are not discernable without the entire context of the excavation report.52. See “2001 Excavation Report,” on the webpage http://unixware.mscc.huji.ac.il/~hatsor/hazor.html.53. See the webpage http://exegesisinternational.org/index.php?option=com_deeppockets&task=contShow&id=2&Itemid=30 for several examples of this burnline and other burned remains.54. In his discussion of the upper city during the Late Bronze I Age, Yadin laments that many conclusions regarding the evaluation of structures, installations, and finds are difficult to make, owing to the enormous amount of leveling and looting that took place on the tel during the Solomonic period (Yadin, The Head, 125).55. Wood, “Let the Evidence Speak,” 78.56. Amnon Ben-Tor, “News and Notes,” IEJ 51:2 (2001), 238.57. Donald B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), 160.58. Yadin, The Head, 200.59. James B. Pritchard, ANET (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950), 242. Hazor is mentioned in a topographical list of Amenhotep II at Karnak (Bienkowski, “Role of Hazor,” 54).60. Omar Zuhdi, “Combined Arms Egyptian Style: Thutmose III Crosses the Euphrates,” KMT 18:3 (Fall 2007), 56.61. Pritchard, ANET, 239.62. Donald B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), 158.63. Hoffmeier emphasizes that the conquest list of Thutmose III for this campaign was not a record of destroyed cities (James K. Hoffmeier, “Reconsidering Egypt’s Part in the Termination of the Middle Bronze Age in Palestine,” Levant 21 [1989], 187).64. As Hoffmeier correctly explains during his discussion of the primary battle of this campaign, which was fought at Megiddo, “While it is true that Thutmose III was concerned to have order and loyalty in Canaan, he was not going to destroy cities that could be useful to him” (Ibid., 187). For this reason, Hoffmeier concludes that Megiddo was not razed either, despite this city’s distinction of being the site from where the king of Kadesh launched his rebellion against the Egyptians at the outset of Thutmose III’s sole rule.65. Thutmose III undoubtedly would have followed the same foreign policy as that of the earlier pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty, including his grandfather, Thutmose I, who set the precedent for his progeny by venturing through Canaan and into Mesopotamia. “Because of Egyptian economic interest in the region, it would make little sense to adopt a scorched earth policy in Canaan. . . . [W]hen Thutmose I acceded the throne, he was able to march, apparently unmolested, all the way to the Euphrates river” (James K. Hoffmeier, “Aspects of Egyptian Foreign Policy in the 18th Dynasty in Western Asia and Nubia,” in Egypt, Israel, and the Ancient Mediterranean World: Studies in Honor of Donald B. Redford, ed. Gary N. Knoppers and Antoine Hirsch [Leiden: Brill, 2004], 133).66. One author calls the Egyptian advancement into upper Syria a direct attack on Mitanni, “which must long have been seen as one of Thutmose’s manifest goals” (Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel, 159). Another writer suggests, in reference to Thutmose III’s renowned campaign into Mesopotamia, that “[t]his campaign was perhaps intended as a capstone ending a series of military operations begun twelve years earlier with the daring strike through the Aruna Pass at Megiddo” (Zuhdi, “Combined Arms,” 55).



The Gebel Barkal Stele of Thutmose III states that this
conquering pharaoh “crossed the Euphrates after the one who had attacked him, at the head of his armies seeking that feeble enemy [from] the land of Mitanni.” The subsequent victory caused Thutmose III to boast, “There is no opponent of mine in the southern lands, northerners come bowing because of my awe. It was Re who ordained it concerning me, I having bound together the Nine Bows, the islands in the midst of the sea, the Aegean and rebellious foreign lands” (Thutmose III, “The Gebel Barkal Stela of Thutmose III,” in Context of Scripture, vol. 2 [trans. James K. Hoffmeier], 15). All of this causes Hoffmeier to look back on this pharaoh’s first campaign and conclude that it already “suggests that Egypt was moving towards an imperial model of domination” (Hoffmeier, “Egyptian Foreign Policy,” in Egypt, Israel, and the Ancient Mediterranean, 134).67. Hoffmeier, “Egypt’s Part,” 187.68. Yadin, The Head, 32. Yadin’s referenRosetta Stone German

conquering pharaoh “crossed the Euphrates after the one who had attacked him, at the head of his armies seeking that feeble enemy [from] the land of Mitanni.” The subsequent victory caused Thutmose III to boast, “There is no opponent of mine in the southern lands, northerners come bowing because of my awe. It was Re who ordained it concerning me, I having bound together the Nine Bows, the islands in the midst of the sea, the Aegean and rebellious foreign lands” (Thutmose III, “The Gebel Barkal Stela of Thutmose III,” in Context of Scripture, vol. 2 [trans. James K. Hoffmeier], 15). All of this causes Hoffmeier to look back on this pharaoh’s first campaign and conclude that it already “suggests that Egypt was moving towards an imperial model of domination” (Hoffmeier, “Egyptian Foreign Policy,” in Egypt, Israel, and the Ancient Mediterranean, 134).67. Hoffmeier, “Egypt’s Part,” 187.68. Yadin, The Head, 32. Yadin’s referen

The character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse of John,

Teaching that it is a matter of indifference to practice adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. Wherefore the Word has also spoken of them thus: “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate” (Rv 2:6) (1994:352).Tertullian, a North African Christian apologist writing around AD 200, in his On Prescription Against Heretics, chapter 33, associates a form of the Nicolaitan error with “meat offered to idols” and fornication (1994:259). Dr. Thomas takes the kai (“also”) in verse 15 as a comparison between two groups within the church and that both held similar false doctrines. He renders verse 15 as “You have also [in addition to those who hold the teaching of Balaam] those who hold in like manner [to the way the Balaamites hold their teaching] the leaching of the Nicolaitans” (1992:194). The two groups “arrived at the same goal, that of eating meal sacrificed to idols and fornication, but they followed different paths to get there”(1992:194).Funerary stela from Pergamum. This funerary stela depicts a memorial meal for the dead. The dead man is reclining on the bed. His wife is seated to the left. The three legged table with food on it is in the center.In order to understand the “doctrine of Balaam” one must go back to the account found in Nm 22–25, 31. Balaam, a prophet of the LORD (Nm 22:18), was invited by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse the nation of Israel. At first, Balaam refused to go to Moab, but later went to Balak. He went, however, with strict instructions from the Lord to say only what the Lord told him to say. Each time Balak asked Balaam to curse the Israelites, he turned around and blessed Israel (23:7–10, 18–24; 24:3–9, 15–19; cf. Gn 12:1–3).But what is the “doctrine of Balaam”? The doctrine of Balaam is the same as the counsel of Balaam (Nm 31:16). Apparently what happened was Balaam told Balak he could only bless the nation of Israel but not curse it. As he departed, he counseled Balak on how to get the God of Israel angry with His people. The plan was quite simple: get the Moabite women to commit harlotry with the men of Israel (Nm 25:1-3).How does this incident relate to the “meat offered to idols” and sexual immorality as well as the Nicolaitans in the church at Pergamum? The books of Numbers and the Psalms give us the answer. In Numbers 25:2, the Moabites invited the people of Israel to “the sacrifice of their gods”. The psalmist reflects on the incident in Numbers 25 by saying. “They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices made to the dead. Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, and the plague broke out among them” (Ps 106:28, 29). Kennedy observes that M. Dahood translates this as “banquet of the dead,” and the “sacrifices of their gods” in Numbers 25:2 isthe idolatrous meals introduced to the Israelites by the Moabite women. These meals were apparently funeral banquets in honor of their ancestors. The dead are described as gods in 1 Sm 28:13 and Is 8:19, two situations where men wish to know about the future and seek out the dead for answers. In a text from Ugarit, Anat addresses her deceased brother Baal with these words: “Your comrades are the gods, the dead your comrades.” Since Baal was already a god in life, the change of status brought about by his death put him in a new company of gods, the dead.The Lord Jesus commands the church to repent of their tolerance for those in the church that followed the doctrine of Balaam as well as the Nicolaitans. If they did not, He said He would come quickly and light against them with the sword of His mouth (Rv 2:16), Tin’s sword may have a dual reference. First, to the Word of God, and second, to the sword of judgment. In the Balaam account, the Angel of the LORD appears before Balaam with a drawn sword (Nm 22:23, 31). In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Angel of the LORD is a theophany, or a pre-incarnate appearance, of the Lord Jesus Christ (Walvoord 1969:51–54). After the sin at Baal Peor, Moses commanded the judges of Israel to kill all those involved in the sin (Nm 25:5). Eventually, Balaam was killed with the sword (Nm 31:8).The message to the church at Pergamum was clear, if you do not take care of the sins caused by those that followed the “doctrine of Balaam” and the Nicolaitans, the Lord would judge the church very severely, even to the point of death. The book of Hebrews, quoting Proverb 3:11, 12, warns of God’s chastening of His children (Heb 12:5, 6). Elsewhere, the New Testament demonstrates that God’s chastening of His children can be very severe, even to the point of death (1 Jn 5:16).The Apostle Paul wrote that many believers “sleep” in Corinth because they abused the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:30). Earlier in the same context concerning “meat offered to idols.” Paul uses the event at Baal Peor as an example of God’s chastening and an admonition to the Church (1 Cor 10:8–11). Paul goes on to admonish the individual believer concerning temptation (1 Cor 10:12. 13).There were some people in the church at Pergamum that did not engage in the memorial meals to the dead. For them, the Overcomers, the Lord promised He would “give some of the hidden manna to eat” (2:17). The contrast is quite obvious. Those in the church who were not walking according to the Word of God were eating at the banquets for the dead and enjoying the “pleasures of sin for a season” (Heb 11:25). The Overcomers “disciplined” their bodies and “brought it into subjection” so that they could “win the prize” (1 Cor 9:24–27). In the context of the letter, the prize would be the “manna” and the “white stone” on which would be written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it (Rv 2:17). Those who followed the “doctrine of Balaam” and the Nicolaitans would be “disqualified” from the race (1 Cor 9:27).The “hidden manna” is most likely the manna that is in the Ark of the Covenant in Heaven (Rv 11:19, cf. Ex 16:32–34) and refers to a Banquet in the Kingdom. This manna will be the reward for the Overcomers, in contrast to the unhallowed food at the memorial meal for the dead. An interesting observation is that whenever the Bible records the Children of Israel eating something other than the manna during the 40 years, death by plague resulted (quail—Nm 11:31–34; Ps 106:14, 15; cf 1 Cor 10:6; sacrifice to the dead at Shittim—Nm 25:1–3; cf. 1 Cor 10:8). The manna did not stop until they entered the Land (Ex 16:35; Jos 5:12; Neh 9:20, 21).The other promise to the Overcomer was a “while stone” with their new name written on it. This is probably an allusion to the victor’s name placed on a monument of while marble, in contrast to the Pergamum granite, placed around the gymnasiums or Pergamum (Sauer 1956:63–65; Hemer 1986:102). The athletic victors were afforded a special banquet (Thomas 1992:201; cf. Rv 19:9).Funerary Meals in Thyatira (Rv 2:20)The church at Thyatira had the same problem as the church at Pergamum. Hemer notes that this is the “longest and most difficult of the seven letters [and] is addressed to the least known, least important and least remarkable of the cities.” He goes on to say, “the letter was not obscure to the church at Thyatira: the problem lies in our remoteness from the contemporary facts” (2001:106).Most commentaries, when discussing the “meat offered to idols” and sexual immorality in the church at Thyatira, attribute the practices to the membership rites of the local trade guilds (trade unions). Each guild had a patron deity and banquets with food offered to that deity as well as immoral activity. In order to have a position in the guild, the Christian would have had to participate in such activities. In the case of the church at Thyatira.

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Shechem: Its Archaeological and Contextual Significance

Tags: Shechem, John 4, Jacob's well, Joseph's tomb, Abimelech--> This article was first published in the Spring 2005 issue of Bible and Spade.“If the full meaning of a passage [in the Bible] is to be grasped, the context of the passage needs to be appropriately developed” (Greenwold 2004: 72). In his pithy study of Luke’s Gospel account of Elizabeth and Zachariah, Greenwold gives an example of what he means: “All too often in our church lifetime, we end up being given many theological and doctrinal factual ornaments, but seldom are we shown the tree upon which to hang them. It’s as if we have been handed dozens of pieces to a puzzle, but have never seen what the finished picture on the top of the puzzle box looks like” (2004: 73). I think that Greenwold has it right.Jesus and the woman at Jacob’s well in John 4 is an excellent case in point. The story takes place near the Old Testament city of Shechem. Shechem is mentioned 60 times in the Old Testament. The city had been abandoned by New Testament times, but Stephen reiterates its importance in his speech in Acts 7:16. A small village, Sychar, was near the ruins of Shechem in New Testament times and is mentioned in the John 4 account (Jn 4:5). Unfortunately, most Bible studies of events at or near Shechem, and commentaries on the Book of John, omit Shechem’s pivotal role in Bible history and how it fit into God’s salvation plan.The narrow pass where ancient Shechem is located at the modern city of Nablus, view west. Mt. Gerizim is on the left and Mt. Ebal on the right. Dr. James C. Martin.Archaeological investigations have corroborated much of what the Bible has to say about Shechem’s physical and cultural aspects. Archaeology has confirmed Shechem’s location, its history, and many Biblical details. In this article I will integrate what archaeology has illuminated about this important place and its geographical importance with a macro look at Shechem’s place in revealing God’s promise and plan to restore believers to Him.1Map of Shechem area showing the location of Tell Balata (ancient Shechem), Joseph’s tomb and Jacob’s Well. ASOR, 2002.Location and ExplorationAbout 30 mi (49 km) north of Jerusalem is a low, 15-acre mound, known as Tell Balata. This nondescript ruin covers what was ancient Shechem. The tell rests in a long, narrow, east-west valley with the two highest mountains in central Palestine towering over it, Mt. Ebal on the north and Mt. Gerizim on the south. The Hebrew word shekem means “back” or “shoulder,” which probably refers to Shechem’s placement between the two mountains. Coming from the south, the major road from Beersheba, Hebron and Jerusalem splits here. One branch goes east, around Mt. Ebal, and provides access to the Jordan Valley and cities like Beth Shan. The western arm leads to the coastal plain and cities to the north such as Samaria and Dothan. Thus, ancient Shechem and its modern counterpart, Nablus, are in a very strategic location along the watershed road between Judah, the Jordan Valley, Transjordan, and the Galilee.2In 1903, a group of German scholars under the direction of H. Tiersch examined Tell Balata and concluded it was ancient Shechem. Until that time there had been controversy over whether Tell Balata, or the modern city of Nablus nearby, was the location of ancient Shechem. Tiersch’s identification has never been seriously questioned.E. Sellin led an Austro-German excavation team to Tell Balata in 1913 and 1914. His work was interrupted by World War I. Sellin began work again in 1926 and continued until 1936. Work was resumed in 1956 by an American team under the direction of G. E. Wright and B. W. Anderson. The latest season of excavations at Tell Balata was in 1973 under the direction of W. G. Dever (Campbell 1993: 1347; Seger 1997:21).Aerial view of the ruins of Shechem. On the right is the Middle Bronze fortification wall and in the upper center the “Migdal,” or fortress, temple. Holy Land Satellite Atlas, 1999, p. 100.Abram at ShechemThe first mention of Shechem in the Bible is Genesis 12:6, when Abram first entered Canaan. It is succinctly described: “Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem.” At that time, God promised Abram, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Gn 12:7). The next mention of Shechem is 11 chapters, and about 200 years, later, when the Bible records that Jacob, Abram’s grandson, “camped within sight of the city” (Gn 33:18).Assuming a conservative dating for the Patriarchal events in the Bible,3 note that Abram camped in Canaan about 2090 BC and there is no mention of a city. However, when Jacob arrived 200 hundred years later, around 1890 BC, the Bible notes that he “camped within sight of the city [Shechem].” In the original Hebrew, the word translated in our English Bible as “city” meant a permanent, walled settlement (Hansen 2003:81, Wood 1999:23). Genesis 34:20 and 24 report that Shechem had a city gate; therefore it was fortified.Can archaeology clarify if there was or was not a city? Yes. The absence of a “city” and walls at Tell Balata when Abram came through and the existence of a city in the time of Jacob is in complete agreement with what the Bible indicates is Shechem’s early history.Excavations have revealed that the earliest urbanization at Tell Balata was in MB I (Levels XXII-XXI), about 1900–1750 BC. MB I was when Jacob lived by the city of Shechem. Prior to MB I, in the time of Abram’s visit, archaeology has demonstrated that there was a gap in settlement and an absence of fortification walls. Thus, there was no “city” for Abram to reference, as the Bible correctly infers (Campbell 1993: 1347).Jacob and Joseph at ShechemWhat was the city like when Jacob settled there? Archaeologists have revealed that Tell Balata in MB I had structures with mudbrick walls on stone foundations and they have found an abundance of artifacts typical of domestic living (Toombs 1992: 1179). The Bible records that during Jacob’s stay he purchased land near Shechem. This parcel would become the place where his son, Joseph, would later be entombed (Jos 24:32). The tumultuous Dinah affair also occurred during Jacob’s stay at Shechem. Its aftermath resulted in the murder of Shechem’s male population by two of Jacob’s sons (Gn 33–34). Subsequently, God told Jacob to move to Bethel (Gn 35:1) and then on to Hebron (Gn 35:7).The next Biblical mention of Shechem is in connection with the story of 17-year-old Joseph, Jacob’s son, who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers (Gn 37). In the account, Joseph’s brothers were grazing the family’s flocks near Shechem when Jacob sent Joseph to inquire of them. After looking for them at Shechem, he found them a short distance north at Dothan. There, the brothers conspired to sell Joseph into slavery, setting the stage for the subsequent accounts of Joseph’s rise to power, Jacob and his family moving to Egypt and, later, Israel’s oppression by Egyptian Pharaohs.The earliest known extra-Biblical written record of Shechem comes from the Middle Bronze period. It is an inscription on a stele (an upright standing stone) of an Egyptian, Khu-Sebek, who was a nobleman in the court of Sesostris III (ca. 1880–1840 BC). It was found in 1901 by the renowned archaeologist J. Garstang at Abydos, Egypt. King Sesostris III became ruler shortly after Jacob was at Shechem, and he was probably the king when Jacob died in Egypt. Khu-Sebek’s stele describes how the king’s army campaigned in a foreign country named Sekmem (Shechem) and how “Sekmem fell” (Toombs 1992: 1179). W. Shea believes that the campaign on Khu-Sebek’s stele is none other than the Egyptians’ account of the military encounters experienced by the entourage accompanying Joseph when Jacob’s embalmed body was brought to Canaan for entombment at Machpelah (Gn 50:12–14) (Shea 1992: 38 ff.)

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10 Mar 11 How to Find the 1 Limo in Kissimmee

How to Find the 1 Limo in KissimmeeBy: John Glenn1 .... Click author's name to view profile and articles!!!Retargeting by ChangoTweet Attempting to find the Highest Quality Kissimmee Limo Service is frequently a frantic matter. With a number of new limo panies in Kissimmee, it can be very easy to make a mistake. This article will offer you lots of fundamental pointers and important information on what to look out for when choosing a Kissimmee Limo pany.First of all you should look for an online phone book regarding Kissimmee Limo panies. There are at least ten limousine service directories available on the internet intended to present you with local Kissimmee listings. You also can search the web by typing the term "Kissimmee limo pany" or "Kissimmee limousine pany". This ought to return 3-10 in Kissimmee that you can call up. Be careful on the you make use of. A lot of Kissimmee Limousine panies may be tailored to a specific niche. For example, some limo panies are for private people like celebrities and diplomats. Other Kissimmee Limo will be more friendly for things like weddings, proms and party buses. Somebody probably will be able to find on the pany's site what areas they are specialized in. Now that you've obtained your list of Kissimmee Limo panies, you should be certain you ask the right questions.Depending on what you are in the market for, the two facts you are advised to be mindful of are price range and performance. Price range is not very hard to determine as you can merely review rates. For a prom you may go with the best rate, but don't go too low, you should always remember, you get what you pay for. What's more, if a special discount sounds to good to be true, it usually is. Don't be afraid to walk away. Excellent on the other hand, is a lot harder to figure out. If you happen to be preparing for a wedding, you would want to obtain some recent testimonials from other brides and grooms. Naturally you want your wedding day to be flawless so it's beneficial to spend the extra time and maybe even a little extra coinage to ensure you have the best suited Kissimmee Limousine Service for what might well be the biggest day of all your life.At the end of the day, once you have selected the highest quality Kissimmee Limousine pany, ensure that you make reservations a few days in advance to be sure your limousine is booked and the pany are aware of your date. The last thing you want to happen is for the limousine pany to be booked already for your date. Hopefully this article offered you a review of what to expect and what you must look for when selecting a Kissimmee Limousine Service. And bear in mind, riding in a limousine is meant to be a very fun and remarkable event. Most Kissimmee Limo panies prehend this and will do their best to deliver you with the most luxurious memories of that wedding or that night out with the guys.Article Source: abcarticledirectoryKissimmee Limo pany Website Development by SEO Web DesignsNote: The content of this article solely conveys the opinion of its author, John Glenn1Retargeting by ChangoDid You Like This Article? Share It With YourFriends!Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 Not yet Rated Click the XML Icon to Receive Free Articles About Auditing via RSS!Additional Articles From - Home Accounting AuditingWhat you need to know about Auditing from the experts.- By : john newportCulture and business proposition- By : foxhatsNavigating Miscellaneous Itemized Deductions- By : Sawyer AdamsAbout The National Association Of Enrolled Agents (NAEA)- By : Sawyer AdamsThe History Of Enrolled Agents- By : Sawyer AdamsThe Canon Sd780is Black Silver Gold Red - Very Nice Christmas Gift- By : ArticleSubmit AutoIRS Increasing Enforcement Activity- By : Sawyer AdamsDestination Military Surplus Products- By : Ali Khan5 Tips For Getting The Right Health Insurance For Your Needs- By : danica12 Quick Tips For Eye Shadow- By : Ali Khan Still Searching? Last Chance to find what you're looking for. Try using Bing Search!

5 Mar 11 How To Attract Affiliates

How To Attract AffiliatesBy: Pj Germain .... Click author's name to view profile and articles!!!Retargeting by ChangoTweet One of the biggest fears new Affiliate managers have is in finding new affiliates. This fear is a stumbling block that stops many site owners from getting started with affiliate marketing. Interestingly, with a proper marketing strategy, getting affiliates may not be very difficult. Given below are some tips that may help in attracting new affiliates.Find complimentary sitesComplementary sites are a sites that sell products or services that compliment NHL Jersey
your offerings. If you sell gardening tools, a site that sells books on gardening tips would be a perfect affiliate. If you sell software, try looking for sites that sell computers or computer parts. Finding sites that already attract your target market, and can benefit from recommending your product or service to their visitors, is the goal.Find content sitesThere are many sites that do not sell any kind of product or service but are mainly content-oriented sites. Such sites promote an idea, concept, study or belief. Content sites that are used as a resource for your target market are ideal affiliates.Finally, there are several sites on the Internet dedicated to listing affiliate Programs. Get your program listed in these directories.Classifying Affiliates for better managementThe hardest part of administrating an Affiliate Program is deciding what your affiliates need to help make the sale.But, by carefully categorizing your affiliates, you can easily determine what their needs are and how to accurately meet them. The plan given below helps in categorizing affiliates in order to manage your affiliate program better.The first step is to pick at least three types of affiliates. Take a look at your affiliates and try to determine one outstanding characteristic that can easily be compared across the board and choose at least three types of the characteristic. Here are some examples:* Level of Sales - You may find that your affiliates are so completely different that it's hard to find something to classify them by. Try classifying them by the level of sales they've reached with you. You'll most likely find that you have a few forerunners that lead the pack with a number of sales, quite a few affiliates that have sporadically made a sale or two and some that have yet to make a sale. This will help you classify them based on sales.* Products - If you sell a wide variety of products for specific interests/needs you may be able to classify your affiliates by product. For instance, a financial site could classify types like Personal Finance, Small Business Finance, and Corporate Finance.* Industry - If you market commodities like office supplies, health and beauty products, house-wares and so on, you may find that your affiliates come from a wide variety of industries. You can most likely classify your affiliates according to their industry.The Second Step is to determine the needs of each type. Each of your affiliate types will have different needs; some of their needs will overlap, but you should find a distinct difference in many of their needs. If you find that all of them have the same needs, go back to step one and re-think your types.Here are some basic things to look for:* Linking Methods - Different types of affiliates will need different linking methods. Let's use the example above where we had different groups based on sales. Your low sales group may be satisfied with a banner or two to place on their site. Your medium sales type may be interested in an article or two for added content on their site. Your high sales group will probably pass up banners for articles, guestbooks, email ads and signature files.* Capturing visitors is what you want. In order to do so you have to know what they want. Visit your affiliates' sites to see what visitors are looking at and looking for. Ask yourself, "How does my product relate to what I am seeing?"* Different types of Washington Capitals jersey
affiliates may expect different commissions. You'll have some Affiliates that have joined your program "on the side" and others that plan on earning a substantial income from the program. Determine what effort they are putting into advertising, how much other programs in your industry are paying, and the amount of time they devote to your program.The Third Step involves the process of creating and compiling linking methods for each group of affiliates. Based on the needs you identified in Step two, create and compile linking methods for each type. Here are a few linking methods to think about.* Banners - Though they aren't as effective as other linking methods, banners are still widely used and expected. Make banners in a variety of sizes to fit tops of pages, bottoms, toolbars, sidebars and other miscellaneous areas.* Articles - These are great for affiliates that need content for their websites and newsletters. Be sure that your articles are articles and not ads.* Email Ads - Your active affiliates may be interested in placing ads in e-zines or their own newsletters. Try writing a few ads in different lengths.* Signature Files - Dedicated affiliates may even add your tag to their signature line. Give them a few witty lines to choose from.* Guestbooks: - Let your affiliates help you build your Opt-In email lists with guestbooks. Offer them a commission for each email address they send you, or each resulting sale from the subscribers they send you.* Product Images - Give your affiliates images that show and link directly to specific products. They'll be able to choose an image specific to their site, or choose several images to display.* Review each affiliate Type and match them up with your new linking methods. You may have some linking methods that overlap Types -- this is okay. Just be sure you are concentrating on the affiliates' needs.The Fourth Step is to decide commission levels. Your first decision will be to determine whether you want to pay a flat rate or percentage of each sale. Based on the needs you identified above for each of the affiliate types, decide on a commission amount for each Type. If you have a two-tier program, consider the possibility of different second tier rates as well.The Fifth Step is to devise promotions for affiliate groups. Once you have your affiliates properly categorized and your system under control, consider developing promotions for your affiliate groups. Give them special incentives to sell more during a certain time frame, move seasonal products, or increase business during your slow months. Offer them additional commissions, or even bonuses for reaching a specific amount of sales.In conclusion, if you follow the steps I have just outlined and if you are ready for a little work and a lot of organization, your affiliate program should be up and running in no time.Article Source: http://www.shop-on-sale.com Pj Germain, affiliate-success.org#1 Unlimited Autoresponder-Click Here~~ I'll Buy What You Want!Note: The content of this article solely conveys the opinion of its author, Pj GermainRetargeting by ChangoDid You Like This Article? Share It With YourFriends!Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 Not yet Rated Click the XML Icon to Receive Free Articles About Affiliate Programs What Cloth Diaper Provides The Top Match For Newborns?- By : mirtagaylWhat is Affiliate Marketing and Why You Should Do It?- By : James A AndersonEarning Money Quickly With Email Marketing - True or False?- By : chad buistMoney Creating Tips For Capitals jersey
Individuals Involved In An Online Affiliate Marketing Home Business- By : Johnny BarrellGlobal Success Club And How To Make Money Online- By : Don SeanMake Cash Over The Internet With Affiliate Marketing- By : Leroy WheelerWhich Affiliate Networks To Look Out For When Promoting ?- By : Elsa Braxton Still Searching? Last Chance to find what you're looking for. Try using Bing Search!