Posted on 03/30/2011 9:26:30 AM PDT by TaraP
Seventy metal books found in cave in Jordan could change our view of Biblical history.....For scholars of faith and history, it is a treasure trove too precious for price.
This ancient collection of 70 tiny books, their lead pages bound with wire, could unlock some of the secrets of the earliest days of Christianity. Academics are divided as to their authenticity but say that if verified, they could prove as pivotal as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.
On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation.......
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Just my take on the matter.
***SEVEN seals, ***
If we look at the photo as we would look at a regular book, with the hinges (5) on the left, that gives us SEVEN seals on the top and right side.
Just a thought.
Are they gold plated books of Joseph Smith and the Mormons? (kidding)
More here..
A group of 70 or so “books”, each with between five and 15 lead leaves bound by lead rings, was apparently discovered in a remote arid valley in northern Jordan somewhere between 2005 and 2007.
A flash flood had exposed two niches inside the cave, one of them marked with a menorah or candlestick, the ancient Jewish religious symbol.
A Jordanian Bedouin opened these plugs, and what he found inside might constitute extremely rare relics of early Christianity.
That is certainly the view of the Jordanian government, which claims they were smuggled into Israel by another
As soon as I saw that, I was dumbstruck”Philip Davies
Sheffield University The Israeli Bedouin who currently holds the books has denied smuggling them out of Jordan, and claims they have been in his family for 100 years.
Jordan says it will “exert all efforts at every level” to get the relics repatriated.
The director of the Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, Ziad al-Saad, says the books might have been made by followers of Jesus in the few decades immediately following his crucifixion. [I doubt this since Crucifixions on a “cross” didn’t happen until much later]
“They will really match, and perhaps be more significant than, the Dead Sea Scrolls,” says Mr Saad.
“Maybe it will lead to further interpretation and authenticity checks of the material, but the initial information is very encouraging, and it seems that we are looking at a very important and significant discovery, maybe the most important discovery in the history of archaeology.”
The texts might have been written in the decades following the crucifixion..They seem almost incredible claims - so what is the evidence?
The books, or “codices”, were apparently cast in lead, before being bound by lead rings. Their leaves - which are mostly about the size of a credit card - contain text in Ancient Hebrew, most of which is in code. If the relics are of early Christian origin rather than Jewish, then they are of huge significance.
One of the few people to see the collection is David Elkington, a scholar of ancient religious archaeology who is heading a British team trying to get the lead books safely into a Jordanian museum.
He says they could be “the major discovery of Christian history”, adding: “It’s a breathtaking thought that we have held these objects that might have been held by the early saints of the Church.” He believes the most telling evidence for an early Christian origin lies in the images decorating the covers of the books and some of the pages of those which have so far been opened.
Mr Elkington says the relics feature signs that early Christians would have interpreted as indicating Jesus, shown side-by-side with others they would have regarded as representing the presence of God.
Yeah that’s true!
Hope more will be coming...!
Thanks.
I kinda remember that story and always liked it!
And if you take 2 x 7 you get 14. Add the 1 and the 4 and you get 5.
Add the 5 to the original 14 and you get... 19!
****How difficult would it have been to have taken good photographs of each “page” so everyone could study just what was recorded?****
What? And deny the Academics (and book publishers) the chance to hold these over our heads for the next 50 years like they did the Dead Sea Scrolls, only releasing a little bit here and a little bit there!
***A Jordanian Bedouin opened these plugs, and what he found inside might constitute extremely rare relics of early Christianity.****
I am surprised he didn’t open the seals, cut the lead pages into little bitty pieces, then sell them to the authorities one little piece at a time as they did the Dead Sea Scrolls.
That is why many of the Dead Sea Scrolls are in such small pieces.
And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? (Revelation 5:1-2)
neat
I’ll have to look it up, but I seem to recall a passage in the Old Testament where the Prophet is handed a “little book” or “Scroll” (check relative meanings in Concordance) by an Angel, and instructed to eat it. It would be “sweet on (his) tongue but bitter in his stomach” - and sure enough it was.
Now in the olden days lead oxide was known as “sugar of lead”, and kids eat lead paint chips because they taste like candy... so a lead “book” might indeed taste sweet, but since it is also toxic would likely make anyone who swallowed it sick - bitter in the belly. I wonder if there might be any connection?
I have concerns about these going back to Jordan; you know what will happen to them if they fall into the hands of Muslims, don’t you?
Look what they did to the relics in the Museum at Cairo, which they took to be symbols of a non-Muslim religion, and thus they were obligated to desecrate or destroy. When they pull an Egypt in Jordan and know where these relics are, they will probably be in dire peril unless someone spirits them to safety somewhere very well concealed from Islam.
prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation
What "lost collection of codices"?
Interesting archeological find, but it probably will not add much to our understanding of the Bible.
If this is supposed to be from the 1st century or thereabouts, then something is fishy here. It is my understanding that the “books” were papyrus scrolls of that time, not the sort of leaved lead pages we see here. I think codices came later.
Gen-u-WINE!
I don’t think it’s the sealed up books Daniel was referring to.
I suspect the Bible Codes come closer to that.
However, it COULD be something from God.
We shall see.
If it strengthens the DEITY OF CHRIST . . . affirms that He came in the flesh and is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, God incarnate, the basic doctrines of the faith . . . well and good.
Otherwise, no deal.
AMEN! TO THAT.
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