The Resurrection Symbolism of Decorated Eggs

 

Painted ostrich egg 7th century BC found on Cyprus. Credit: De Agostini Picture Library

For many thousands of years humans expressed grief for the deaths of their loved ones and for their leaders. They also expressed hope that death is not the end in the way they buried those people. For at least 100,000 years some were buried in red ochre, a symbolic blood covering. This practice indicates ritual burial and a yearning for life after death.

These individuals were buried 100,000 years ago in red ocher in what is today Israel.

Many of these burials also included artifacts that indicate belief in an existence beyond the grave. This was especially true for rulers such as King Tut. Among the grave goods found in his tomb were board games, musical instruments, daggers, tunics, sandals, and food provisions, all intended to support the pharaoh in the afterlife. 

In the Nile Valley decorated eggs have been found in the graves of children. Painted ostrich eggs were place in tombs at Hierakonpolis (Nekhen), the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship. They also have been found in many graves of children in ancient Nubia. At Naqada, a decorated ostrich egg replaced the owner's missing head. This egg is now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

The custom of decorating eggs for Pascha or Easter has deep roots in the Messianic Faith that we call "Christianity." Decorated eggs were placed in graves as an expression of hope for life after death.

In the Eastern Orthodox churches patterned eggs are a part of the celebration of Pascha. I observed this at the Armenian Cathedral in the Julfa District of Isfahan, Iran. After the Divine Liturgy, people gathered in the courtyard and gently clicked their eggs together in greeting. 

For Christians, the Easter egg is a reminder that Jesus rose from the grave, and that those who believe in Him will share in His eternal life as citizens of His eternal kingdom.

Related reading: Early Resurrection Texts; Abraham's Faith Lives in Christianity; The Substance of Abraham's Faith; "Easter" Eggs in Antiquity; Funerary Rites and the Hope of Resurrection; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; Christ's Third Day Resurrection

Was Jesus Born in a Sheep Cote?

 

Stone sheep cote in Zanuta, West Bank

Photo: Emil Salman

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

According to one tradition Jesus was born in a migdal eder, a sheep cote. In Hebrew, a migdal (מִגְדָּל) is a “tower” and eder (עֵדֶר) refers to a herd or flock. There were many such places in the Ancient Near East. They looked like the sheep cotes in this post.

The Bible scholar Alfred Edersheim interpreted the Micah 4:8 reference to the tower as a prophecy indicating that the Messiah would be revealed from the "tower of the flock" (migdal eder) which he claimed is connected with Bethlehem.

Likewise, Professor Samuel Klein believed that Jesus was born in a place where sheep were kept based of mention of a "shepherd's field" in Luke 2:8-20. And in God's economia, it was to Bethlehem shepherds that the birth of the Messiah was first annonnced.

In the Ancient Near East dry stack sheep cotes served as housing for the shepherd. This is reflected in Judges 5:16: "Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart." 

2 Samuel 7:8 also describes the sheep cote as a dwelling place (naveh).

Sheep cotes similar to the one shown above are found in many parts of Europe and are called by different names: tholos, girna, caciara, and keyl. The last word, found in Wales, is provocatively similar to the Altaic kyr ayil, meaning a "sheep village" or "the shelter to which the ram (krios) leads the sheep."

Shepherds used sheep cotes as shelters for many centuries. In archaic times, these structures served as seasonal housing for the shepherd and his family as they moved their livestock between higher summer elevations and lower winter pastures. More recently, sheep herders maintain permanent homes in valleys and only a few men move with their flocks to the seasonal sheep cotes.

The dry stack sheep cotes pictured below are common in Ireland, Italy, Wales, Serbia and Croatia. 

This dry stack tholos in Abruzzo, Italy serves as a home and a sheep cote.

Note that where the man is standing is where the shepherd often sleeps.

He becomes the door that guards the way to the sheep.

This practice was familiar to Jesus who said, "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-- even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." (John 10:9-15)

This sheep cote in Anatolia served as a shelter and as a place of worship.

The shearing of sheep was surrounded by religious ceremony. Sheep shearing and sacred shrines are associated in Genesis 38.

"After a long time Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him. It was told to Tamar, "Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."

Sheep shearing sometimes involved animal sacrifice and feasting on a large scale, as is evident in 2 Samuel 13:23-25.

Now it came about after two full years that Absalom had shearers in Baal-hazor, which is near Ephraim, and Absalom invited all the king's sons. Absalom came to the king and said, "Behold now, your servant has shearers; please let the king and his servants go with your servant." But the king said to Absalom, "No, my son, we should not all go, for we will be burdensome to you." Although he urged him, he would not go, but blessed him.

Related reading: Sheep Cotes as Sacred Spaces; Shepherd Priests; The Antiquity of Bethlehem

The Antiquity of Bethlehem

 

The famous Ain Sakhri lovers figurine was found near Bethlehem. It was shaped around 11,000 years ago from a pebble.

Archaeologists have made discoveries in the area of Bethlehem that indicate that humans have lived there for at least 100,000 years. Evidence of human habitation in the area of Bethlehem is well-attested along the north side of Wadi Khareitun where there are three rock shelters: Iraq al-Ahmar, Umm Qal’a, and Umm Qatafa. These caves were homes in a wooded landscape overlooking a river. At Umm Qatafa archaeologists have found the earliest evidence of the domestic use of fire in Palestine.

An unscathed 4,000-year-old tomb was accidently discovered in the city of Bethlehem during renovation being carried out on a local house. Construction workers were led to the tomb through a hole found near the Church of the Nativity. The tomb dates between 1,900 and 2,200 BC. The tomb was located about a meter below the surface. Burial items such as jars, plates, and beads were retrieved from the tomb, along with the remains of two individuals.

Shelter and Water

100,000 years ago, humans found shelter in the many caves around Bethlehem. They drew water from the 'En 'Eitam spring, located near Solomon's Pools, about 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Bethlehem. They also drew water from the springs in the hills around Bethlehem. There are several springs, including the Al-Hawiya spring and the historical Al-Ein spring.

Bethlehem and the Horite Hebrew  

The book of Ruth identifies the royal House of David with the Horite Hebrew settlement of Bethlehem. The name has two meanings. The Hebrew Beth Lehem means “House of Bread” and the Arabic Bēt Lahm means “House of Meat.” Both are accurate descriptions of the ancient Hebrew settlement of Bethlehem. The priests of Bethlehem offered grain offerings daily, and less often, they sacrificed lambs. The meat was distributed to the needy. The place of Jesus’ birth speaks of his identity as the "Lamb of God" and the "Bread of Life."

Bethlehem was a Horite Hebrew settlement according to I Chronicles 2:54 and I Chronicles 4:4. The Horite Hebrew were a caste of priests who believed in and served God Father and God Son. They are the oldest known caste of priests with a history that extends back long before the emergence of Judaism. The oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship is at Nekhen on the Nile and dates to c. 4000 BC.

The Horite Hebrew priests served rulers at royal temples and shrines, circumcised, performed purification rituals, and were responsible for oversight of royal burials. They made grain and oil offerings to God and sometimes sacrificed calves and lambs. By David’s time they had dispersed throughout the ancient world. They carried their religious beliefs and practices wherever they went.

Horite Hebrew priests were found among the Arameans of Mesopotamia, the Edomites of the hill country south of Judah, among the Moabites (Ruth’s people), among the Nilotic peoples, the Afro-Arabian clans known as Dedanites and Midianites, and among the people of Judah.

They married within their clans (endogamy) and the priestly office was hereditary. This explains why 2 Samuel 8:18 states that David’s sons were priests.

I Chronicles 4:4 gives the name Hur (HR) as the founding patriarch of Bethlehem. Hur is a Horus name. Rahab of Jericho was the wife of Salmon, the son of Hur. Salmon (or Salma) is a Horite Hebrew name associated with Bethlehem. In 1 Chronicles 2:54, Salmon is called a "father” of Bethlehem. Rahab was the grandmother of Boaz who married Ruth. Ruth was the great grandmother of King David of Bethlehem.

After David became king, he brought the Ark "from the house of Abinadab, that was in Gibeah” (Saul’s hometown) to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:1-12). However, for three months the ark rested in David’s hometown of Bethlehem in the house of Obed-Edom. This indicates a direct connection between the priest of Bethlehem and the Horite Hebrew ruler-priests of Edom listed in Genesis 36.

The Obed-Edom connection also testifies to the great antiquity of David’s royal lineage. Genesis 36:31 lists the descendants of Seir the Horite Hebrew, and notes: “These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned.”

The book of Micah also refers to the long-held expectation of Messiah’s coming from Bethlehem. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." (Micah 5:2)

This verse designates Bethlehem of Judah as the setting for the story of Ruth. Bethlehem of Judah is an agricultural zone in the West Bank fed by rain and water runoff from the Judean Hills. This identification is important because there is another Bethlehem in Galilee, near Nazareth. Both were agricultural areas with Hebrew settlements. The Israeli archaeologist, Aviram Oshri, spent nearly eleven years excavating artifacts in Bethlehem of the Galilee. He has suggested that Jesus was born in that Bethlehem, not in Bethlehem of Judea.

Israel has many micro-climates and the Book of Ruth says that Elimelech and Naomi left Bethlehem because of a famine. The main cause of famines was drought. The Bethlehem of Judah is much more prone to drought than the Bethlehem of Galilee because of its hilly terrain and climate. The crops in Judah’s hill country were planted in the valleys and were entirely dependent on rainfall and runoff from the hills.

The Priest Division of Abijah

The Hebrew married only members of their caste. The marriage of Mary of Bethlehem and Joseph of Nazareth is an example of the Hebrew endogamous marriage custom. Their marriage represented the connection between the priestly order of Abijah in Bethlehem and the priestly order of ha·pi·TSETS (Happizzez) in Nazareth. Abijah was the eighth priestly division and Happizzez was the eighteenth division. 

During the time of Mary and Joseph, the twenty-four priestly divisions served in the Temple at Jerusalem in a rotation system. A list of priestly divisions is found in 1 Chronicles 24:7-18. However, this system was already in place among the early Hebrew priests of the Nile Valley. During the Predynastic period (c.4000-3000 BC) and the Old Kingdom (c. 2575-2130 BC), the Hebrew priests of the Nile Valley were organized into "phyles". Each phyle served a two-week duration before returning home. The later organization of priests in Israel appears to have developed from the phyle system.

According to Luke's Gospel Mary was in Nazareth when the Angel told her about God's Son. But Mary's hometown was Bethlehem. She was the daughter of Joachim, priest of Bethlehem. If she was in Nazareth, it was for the wedding. That means that her conception of Jesus by divine overshadowing took place very near to the wedding ceremony. No wonder people were scandalized!

Shipment From Bethlehem to Jerusalem

This 2700-year royal seal (bulla) was found during archaeological excavations in Jerusalem. The coin-size seal bears the name “Bethlehem” in ancient Hebrew. The seal indicates that a shipment was sent from Bethlehem to Jerusalem in the seventh year of a king's reign. The king was either Hezekiah or Josiah.

Three lines of ancient Hebrew script appear on the bulla:

בשבעת Bishivʽat

בת לים Bat Lechem

למלך [Lemel]ekh

The bulla makes it clear that a town called Bethlehem existed in the time of the Temple built by Solomon. Eli Shukron, of the Israel Antiquities Authority explained, "This is the first time the name Bethlehem appears outside the Bible, in an inscription from the First Temple period (1006-586 B.C.), which proves that Bethlehem was indeed a city in the Kingdom of Judah, and possibly also in earlier periods."

Related reading: Bulla Bearing the Name of Bethlehem; Was Jesus Born in a Different Bethlehem?; The Ark Rested in Bethlehem

Trees of the Bible

 

Ostracon of a Doum palm in Egypt. 

The Bible contains information about trees and there is a great deal of tree symbolism. In Psalm 1:3 we read that the person who delights in the Lord is "is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers."

Trees served as border markers for the biblical Hebrew. Terebinth trees marked the northern and southern boundaries of Abraham's territory between Hebron and Beersheba. After Abraham formed a treaty with Abimelech, he planted a terebinth at the southern end of his territory (Gen. 21:22-34).

The Hebrew sometimes buried their dead beneath oaks and terebinths (Gen. 35:8; I Chron. 10:12).

In Genesis 3:3 we read about the Tree of Life that grew in the middle of the garden. The idea inspired C.S. Lewis. The Tree of Life appears in different forms in Lewis' tales, sometimes as an apple tree and sometimes as a lantern. Lewis places the tree and lantern "in the midst of the garden" (cf. Gen. 3:3) or in the midst of the wood. Here Lewis builds on a detail in Genesis which places the Cross or Tree of Life at the sacred center of the cosmos. The tree and lantern in the Narnian wood are symbols of the Jesus Messiah, who comes from another place (heaven) and gives light to the world. The Church Fathers regarded the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden to be a symbol of the Cross upon which Jesus Christ died to give life to the world. Peter declared to the Jews gathered for Passover, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree." (Acts 5:30)

The Tree of Life is very old motif as is evident from its wide diffusion across Africa, Asia, Australia and South America. In Anthropology, the principle of diffusion states that the oldest culture traits, beliefs, or practices are those that are most widely diffused globally.

In Genesis we read how the serpent tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In ancient images the serpent is often appears with a tree, as in the image below.

Ra's cat killing Apophis at the tree of life.

The trees known to have grown in the region of Abraham’s ancestors include acacia, cedar, date nut palms, sycamore fig trees and baobab. Let's consider the significance of each of these.

Acacia tree in East Africa.

Acacia (Hebrew: sittah; Egyptian: sunt) and cedar (Hebrew: 'erez; Egyptian 'arz) were used in the construction the Tabernacle and later in the construction of the Temple built by Solomon. Both trees are drought resistant and fragrant. Acacias grow into spreading shrubs and thorny trees with clusters of fragrant, yellow-orange puffball flowers that attract bees. Cedar is in the pine family and once grew in abundance in the mountains of Lebanon. The sea-faring Egyptians used cedar to build their ships and cedar oil for embalming the dead.

Women prophets, like Deborah, sat under the date nut palms (tamars) and people came to them for wise counsel. Judges 4:4-6 tells us, “Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet who was judging Israel at that time. She would sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for judgment."

Some scholars believe that the fruit eaten by Eve in Eden came from Sycamore Fig tree (Ficus sycomorus). Many artists have depicted the fruit as an apple. An older tradition maintains that the fruit was a fig growing on the Sycamore figs trees which grew near the rivers in the region of Eden. This tradition is also represented in paintings by the fig leaves covering Adam and Eve's private parts.

Range of the Ficus sycomorus

The Sycamore fig is a large edible fruit which ranges from green to yellow or red when ripe. In its natural habitat, the tree can bear fruit year-round, peaking from July to December. Jesus “cursed” the Sycamore Fig tree when it failed to produce fruit. In Mark 11:12-14, we read:

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

The baobab tree was an important tree for Abraham's people. It looks as if it grows with its roots up (see image below). This story surrounding the baobab warns against never being content:

The baobab was among the first trees to appear on the land. Next came the slender, graceful palm tree. When the baobab saw the palm tree, it cried out that it wanted to be taller. Then the beautiful flame tree appeared with its red flower and the baobab was envious for flower blossoms. When the baobab saw the magnificent fig tree, it prayed for fruit as well. The gods became angry with the tree and pulled it up by its roots, then replanted it upside down to keep it quiet.

In the wet months the baobab stores water in its thick, corky, fire-resistant trunk for the long dry period ahead. The water is tapped when drinking water becomes scarce in the dry months.

1000-year Baobab tree in Africa

The bark of the baobab tree is used for cloth and rope, and the leaves are prepared as condiments and medicines. The baobab’s fruit is called "monkey bread." This tree has a spongy bark because it retains water which desert nomads are able to extract by slicing the bark. In the Sahara and in the arid parts of the Arabia this tree sustains life. The motif of water flowing from a tree is found across the ancient world and is associated with the Tree of Life. This idea of waters flowing from a tree is found in Revelation 22:1-2.

Egyptian image of water flowing from a tree.

This image of water flowing from a tree is found in India.

Related reading: Trees in Genesis; Antarctica Once Had Baobab Trees; The Fig Tree in Biblical Symbolism; Theories About the Tree of Life; The Tree of Weeping; Cedars of the Lord

Early Humans Built with Wood

 

The excavation team uncovers the wooden structure along the bank of Zambia's Kalambo River.
(Photo: Professor Larry Barham/University of Liverpool)

Humans of the Stone Age were extremely resourceful. They used organic materials close at hand to fabricate tools and useful implements. Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Israel, is an ancient site on the bank of the Jordan River south of the historic Lake Hula. Excavations exposed the remains of fires from 780,000 years ago. There is evidence of cooked plant foods, nuts, and fish. Some wood is also preserved in the sediments, including a wooden plank with intentional shaping. This currently is the oldest modified wooden artifact in the archaeological record.

Dr. John Hawks, a world renown paleoanthropologist, wrote a fascinating article about the prehistoric use of organic materials. The article focuses mainly on the use of wood. Hawks wrote: 

"The most well-known archaeological site with ancient wood is Schöningen, in central Germany. At the edge of a lake 300,000 years ago, people hunted horses and left behind the butchered horse bones, stone tools, and many wooden spears, throwing sticks, and other artifacts."

 

Another site where Stone Age wooden artifacts have been found is in Italy. Hawks explains:

"Poggetti Vecchi, Italy, is a site with thermal pools that preserve evidence of straight-tusked elephants and other animals from around 170,000 years ago. Archaeologists have uncovered least 39 wooden tools, many of them interpreted as digging sticks. Many of them were described in 2018 in an article led by Biancamaria Aranguren.

All the artifacts identified at Poggetti Vecchi were made from boxwood, Buxus sempervirens."

 

Another discovery too place at Kalambo Falls. The Kalambo Falls is just upstream of where it enters Lake Tanganyika. Hawks reports:

"Last year, Lawrence Barham and collaborators reported an unexpected discovery from their recent work at Kalambo Falls. Opening new excavations into the riverbank deposits, they uncovered many wood artifacts. These include an apparent digging stick, logs that were cut by stone blades, and a remarkable pair of logs that had been notched to fit one over the other. Barham and coworkers are not sure what the function of the notched log structure may have been, but they speculate that it may have served as the foundation of a hut or shelter, or it may have served as a platform or part of a walkway, or even as a workbench. What is clear is that ancient hominins applied patterned effort to shape the logs and build with them. This structure is around 476,000 years old."

 

Also in Africa, Hawks notes:

"one of the earliest wooden artifacts from Africa is from Florisbad, South Africa. That site is a natural spring with peat deposits that can preserve organic materials for a very long time. A number of wooden artifacts were identified during excavation of the springs in the 1930s and thereafter, but these tended to disintegrate quickly after excavation. The anthropologist Kenneth Oakley visited Florisbad and took one wooden artifact to London, where the wood was treated with chemicals similar to those used to preserve artifacts from later waterlogged sites. The artifact was later examined by Desmond Clark, who interpreted it as the broken point of a larger throwing stick. In 2003, Marion Bamford and Zoë Henderson carried out a re-examination of this artifact to provide some modern detail. One of the most interesting aspects was the wood that it is made from: kundanyoka knobwood (Zanthoxylum chalybeum), which today occurs no further south than Zimbabwe. The implication is that a very much warmer climate occurred around Florisbad at the time this tool was made, although the dating and context of the artifact are still uncertain."

Hawks points out that wooden artifacts also have been found in southwestern China. Xing Gao and collaborators excavated a large area south of the city of Kunming and exposed levels of ancient lakeshore between 361,000 and 250,000 years old. The excavations revealed stone artifacts, remains of varied plants and pollen, and 35 wooden tools.

Additionally, Hawks notes that "Aranbaltza is a floodplain site in northern Spain, with several archaeological localities dating back to between 140,000 and 50,000 years ago. One of these localities is Aranbaltza III, where in 2015 Joseba Rios-Garaizar and coworkers recovered a pointed wooden tool, around 20 cm in length. The evidence of crushing and wear at the pointed end suggested that this stick had been used for digging."

Related reading: Four amazing Stone Age sites with ancient wooden artifacts; Materials Science (Part 1 - Metals); Materials Science (Part 2 - Ores); Materials Science (Part 3 - Resins and Oils); Materials Science (Part 4 - Conglomerates); Archaic Shell Technology

Brick Making in Antiquity

 

Unexcavated brick wall at Harappa in India.

Brick makers were a skilled class of people in the ancient world. They served the regional chiefs who constructed fortifications, palaces, temples and pyramids. Many structures built in the Bronze Age were made of stone. However, bricks were used to lay out the foundation of a new building. Stacked bricks served as markers. Some buildings contained bricks that were inscribed with prayers and dedications, as is done today on the corner stones of some public buildings and churches.

Mud bricks date back to Mehrgarh (4500 B.C.), and baked bricks were a hallmark of the Indus Valley Civilization. Archaeologists have found clay or mud brick structures, often in ruins, dating to as early as 4800 B.C.

The bricks were pressed into molds and then dried in the sun or baked in ovens (kilns). The molds made it possible to produce bricks that were uniform in size and shape.

Baked bricks form this wall. The strength and height are increased by alternating rows of bricks running in different directions.

Kiln-baked bricks were stronger and were used for the outer defensive walls and for structures near flood zones. 

Brick kilns (shown below) were discovered at Egyptian Teudjoi (Ankyronpolis) south of Beni Suef, on the east bank of the Nile. 

Genesis 11:3 tells us that the towers in Mesopotamia were built of fired brick. Mud or clay bricks were used to build temples, palaces, entrances to royal tombs, houses, walls, and pyramidal towers called ziggurats. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were built with a core of sun-dried mud brick and an exterior covered with kiln-baked brick. The term "ziggurat" comes from the Akkadian word ziqqurratu, which means "rising building" (from the ancient Akkadian zaqâru, "to rise high").

The Sumerians used bricks to create arched entrances to royal tombs. Sumerian arches were made by stacking bricks on top of each other in steps that met in the center. Around 3000 B.C, builders created a special wedge-shaped brick mold that allowed the bricks to fit even more closely together above a doorway.

The Sumerians and ancient Egyptians built shrine cities and fortifications using clay bricks mixed with straw. According to Exodus 5:7, Pharaoh ordered the Egyptian taskmasters: "You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw."

To increase the brick production teams of brick makers competed against each other. This image (above) of men making bricks appears on the wall of the tomb of Rekmara, a ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1292 BC). 

The land of Canaan and its principal cities, such as Hazor, Kadesh, and Jerusalem, were under Egyptian rule during the Eighteenth Dynasty. Cities under Egyptian rule were fortified with walls many feet thick. The north wall protecting Lachish was 17 feet thick and the outer walls of Gezer were 14 feet thick. These fortified shrine cities are called the "high places" in the Bible. 

Jerusalem was named Jebus because it was the city of the Jebusites who built their royal complex on the south-eastern hill of Jerusalem. The old Jebusite wall was made of stone. Most monuments and fortification walls built by high kings were made of stone. It appears that stone masons were a rank above brick makers.

Related reading: Bricks and Urbanization in the Indus Civilization Rise and Decline; The High Places; Ancient Twin Cities; The Tower of Babel; Tar as an Adhesive and Sealant; Pharaoh's Brick Makers

Olive Oil Production in Antiquity

 

Ancient olive tree

Olives were a natural resource in the Near East 6,000 years ago. Ancient documents mention an olive tree in Heliopolis (biblical On) during V Dynasty (BC 2494 to 2345). Trade records from the IV Dynasty (BC 2613 to 2494) list olive oil among the goods traded from Syria and Canaan. The olive tree appears in the hieroglyphs, drawings, and statues of high-ranking Egyptians, and objects made of olive wood were found in Tutankhamun's tomb.

Olive trees grew in the region of Lake Chad during the time Noah lived there. Genesis 8:11 recounts how a dove returned to Noah’s ark carrying an olive branch in its beak. Both the olive branch and the dove are symbols of peace. Olive trees grew in the Hoggar and Air mountains and along a 750-mile plain leading south to Lake Chad.

Production and uses of olive oil

Olive oil was used for lamp fuel, medicinal ointment, making soap, skin moisturizer, perfumes, cooking oil, and as a food. Olive oil was used in offerings to God. Leviticus 8:26 speaks of offerings of bread cakes anointed with oil.

Olive oil was used to anoint rulers, priests, and warriors. God said to Samuel, “Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse, the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons” (I Sam.16:1). When David was presented before Samuel, the prophet “took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward” (I Sam.16:13). God said, “I have found My servant David; with My holy oil, I have anointed him” (Psalm 89:20).

The word "messiah" means "the anointed one" and the substance used for anointing was olive oil. The Hebrew word for “olive tree” is es shemen, which means ‘tree of oil.” It is from the root meaning “to shine” and is related to shemesh, the Hebrew word for the sun.

A donkey turns the stone that presses the olives.

To make oil the olives were mashed in a mortar, crushed in a press, or stomped underfoot the way grapes are crushed to get the juice. Ancient stone presses have been found throughout the Near East, Israel, and the Arabian Peninsula. The circular grinding stones, like the circular threshing floors, reminded people of the Most High God, whose emblem was the sun.

The Encyclopedia Judaica gives this explanation of the process of oil production:

“The olives were beaten down from the trees with poles (Isa.17:6), and were pounded into pulp in mortars or by the feet (Micah 6:15). The pulp was placed in wicker baskets from which the lightest and finest oil could easily run off This grade of oil, known as beaten oil (Heb. Shenen katit), is mentioned five times in the Bible. It served as fuel for the lamp in the Tabernacle (Ex.27:20; Lev.24:2) and as an element in the obligatory daily meal offerings (Ex.29:40; Num.28:5). King Solomon traded this type of oil with Hiram of Tyre in exchange for cedar and cypress wood (I Kings 5:10-11). After the removal of the beaten oil, a second grade was produced by heating and further pressing the pulp. . ."

The oil was then stored in wooden vats or stone jars.

Related reading: Images of Near Eastern Oil Presses; Threshing Floors and Solar Symbolism