May 2026 Iba Newsletter

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This month's issue deals with the subject of witchcraft. Godspeed.

by Judd Burton,Ph.D.

This past Easter and Passover season, I like many of you was thinking of the Exodus and the Resurrection of Jesus. As the day went on I found myself thinking more and more about the Hebrew presence in Egypt and subsequent Exodus. It is an amazing story and one about which we are learning more and more. The events in the Exodus account are extraordinary on their own merits: talking burning bushes, holy mountains, a Gandalf vs. Saruman style battle between Moses and the Egyptian magicians, the plagues,Yahweh battling the gods of Egypt, a sea parting, and on and on. 

There's another miracle at work here in addition to the Exodus itself. It's not an instantaneous miracle, but a longitudinal one that has the gravity of historical direction. When I realized what it was, I was amazed, because it's hiding in plain sight. It”s a miracle that reclaims sacred space and time. And it has to do with something used daily: words and language.

For clarity, I believe the Hebrews settled in and were eventually enslaved in Egypt, I believe Moses was a real historical person and that the Exodus happened. I believe the Torah is a historical record. These are positions I hold both as a historian and a Christian. I think it's absurd to argue that Moses wasn't real and that scholars who believe that are simply not staying abreast of recent discoveries concerning the Exodus. They are comfortable with consensus instead of actually applying science and rigor to the question.

In my article “Moses, Not Herodotus” I put forth that it was Moses and not the Greek historian Herodotus who was the first historian in Western Civilization. This is a position echoed by researchers and scholars like David Rohl, who has stated the same. Moses wrote history as much as 1,000 years earlier than Herodotus. So the train of thought in this article and its followup begins there.

The very truth of the Bible, and indeed the very message and mission of Jesus, hinges on the historical veracity ofJoseph, Moses and the Exodus. Jesus Himself endorses the historiographical position Moses occupies, articulating its history validates His mission and identity.

“Father; there is one who accuses      you—Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (Jn. 5:45-47)

If you don't believe Moses, how will you believe me? That's pretty significant.

It is fascinating that John is relating this confirmation to us. He and Moses share many similarities. Just as John is given a vision of the end, Moses is given a vision of the very beginning. Yahweh used Moses to bring the Old Covenant, just as Jesus used John to deliver the New Covenant. Both Moses and John were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt. Hermon). The two also use their education and culture of the day to describe their revelations. John is also repeatedly telling us how important “the word” and “the truth” are in his gospel and letters. Hence, it is fitting to find Jesus’ endorsement in John's work.

In order to better appreciate the role of words and language in this story, we go back to the establishment of the Hebrew presence in Egypt. This is during the beginning of the 13th Dynasty, before 1800 BC, which would also be the end of the Patriarchal Period in Biblical chronology. How do we know it was this early? We know because of the groundbreaking (pun intended) work of archaeologist Manfred Bietak. Professor Bietak excavated a site in northeastern Egypt than turned out to be a settlement of Semites–in fact it was Avaris in Goshen, where Joseph and the Hebrews settled. Bietak initially identified the population at the site of Avaris generically West Asiatic, however in light of Tim Mahoney's Red Sea Crossing documentary in the Patterns of Evidence series, Bietak has revised this position and acknowledges the probability they were Hebrew

Bietak's finds and recent paradigm-shattering research point to Joseph's arrival in Egypt during the reign of Amenemhat II around 1895 BC, at the dawn of an age of vizier governance in Egypt (of which Joseph was one). At Avaris, Bietak found the remains of houses built in the style of those found in Canaan and Syria at the time. More remarkable than the presence of the city is the evidence for a large palatial structure and a cluster of 12 tombs, one pyramidal and containing the statue of a yellow-skinned, mushroom-hairestyled, West Asiatic bedecked in a multi-colored coat and clutching a throw stick as a symbol of his office. Who else could this be than the Biblical Joseph, granted a palace for his role as vizier, and the monuments of his family?

Clearly, Joseph would have been educated by Amenemhat II in order that he carry out his task. The inscriptions of the 19th century. BC testify to the great drought in the region. Quick record-keeping and correspondence–much faster and much less-cluttered than Egyptian hieroglyphs–would be needed to facilitate the most efficient logistical response to the drought. This begs the question: did Joseph arrive in Egypt literate, bringing the technology of an alphabet with him, or did he develop one as a response to the drought in his role as vizier? We will consider this question and Moses’ role in this revelation in Part II.

It is with this Hebrew presence in Egypt that the foundation of Western tradition is laid. God's imprint was a deep linguistic one. And as this series continues, I'll make the case that it was God's most significant linguistic intervention since Babel.

(C) 2026, Judd H. Burton

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Manfred Bietak et al, “Report on the excavations of a Hyksos palace at Tell el-Dab'a/Avaris“(2022); see also “Avaris and Piramesse,” 1979

 “The Sons of Jacob,” Bible and Spade (Spring/Summer 1997)

https://www.bible.ca/manuscripts/bible-archeology-UC-14333-Mentuhotep-Amenemhet-25th-year-Sesostris-I-Senwosret-Kheperkare-famine-drought-nile-flooding-Joseph-1895BC.htm

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In our universe there are phenomena which are quantifiable, and then there are those anomalies which defy classification. They resist the attempt to taxonomize, and yet, they occur.  Our linguistic trends produce words like “preternatural,” paranormal,” “supernatural,” and the like.  Do such occurrences--such as apparitions, demons, UFOs, spontaneous combustion, a myriad of unexplainable phenomena--truly defy quantification, or do the conventional systems generally employed for observing events in the universe simply prove insufficient to the task of quantifying such baffling events.

In David Lynch’s Twin Peaks universe, such events are described by FBI Chief Gordon Cole and his colleagues as a “blue rose.”  His task force which addressed cases involving the paranormal was aptly called The Blue Rose Task Force. Members included Cole, the famed Agent Dale Cooper, Agent Phillip Jeffries, and Agent Albert Rosenfield, among others.  Without going into a complete synopsis of the series (talk about defying quantification!), Agent Rosenfield relates the story of how the team was founded by Cole and Jeffries in 1975, after they were called to investigate a shooting.  They proceeded to a motel, heard gunfire, burst through the door, and in the room were two women.  One lay bleeding to death from a shot to the abdomen, and looked up, smiled, and said “I am like the blue rose,” just before vanishing completely.  The other woman, holding the gun, looked exactly like the woman she had just shot (who did not have a twin).  Rosenfield asked another agent what they thought it meant and they responded that “a blue rose does not occur in nature.” 

Of all our sources of inquiry, our pursuits and laudable applications, medicine, law, the arts, humanities, the sciences, agriculture, engineering, manufacturing, commodities, retail, philosophy, theology--they all have their place.  They all have frameworks for inquiry and inherent designs to understand the origins, workings, purposes, and often application for the benefit of many.  Humans are naturally curious, and we have a natural tendency to categorize and make sense of what we can observe. What happens when events occur that either strain or altogether run anathema to our systems of inquiry?

There are three possible outcomes to this question.  The first is that the phenomenon in question simply requires a more rigorous application of conventional inquiry, and a solution can eventually be reached.  The second is that  a combined or amalgamated system of inquiry, comprised of elements from the sciences and/or humanities--even seemingly unrelated fields--can be improvised to produce a solution.  Finally, the third potentiality is that an altogether novel system of inquiry must be created and applied over time, and may yield results along a spectrum from completely unresolved to resolutely explicated.

What then, is the purpose of investigation of preternaurality and its accompanying components of inquiry?  The answer is simple and three-fold, and is much like other questions posed to humanity.  Within the general question of “why?,” regarding its purpose and origin, are these:  Does it edify or benefit?  Does it remain neutral or lend itself to broad hermeneutics?  Does it pose a danger or detriment?  If society or those asking the question deem it the first, then it may be embraced in the popular consciousness. If they deem it the second, then society or individuals can take it or leave it.  If they decide it is the third, then pertinent and cognizant members of society will seek to remove, repel, or avoid it. 

In a strange twist of the modern age, what once may have been easily dismissible as folklore, superstition, or outright hysteria, is becoming eerily possible, and in cases, probable.  The quantum age is upon us, and though theoretical in its inception, quantum mechanics now begins to take on the hue of reality.  The model of multiple universes and dimensions once mused upon by the likes of Einstein and Plank, now begins to take recognizable shape.  Where do we look for this in the modern world?  Cern.  The supercollider in Tennesee.  The quantum computer, which--as if in an act of magic--literally does its computing, and therefore derives its calculations and information, from another dimension.  Let that sink in for a minute.

The fact of the matter is that our reality is littered with blue roses.  Vampires, werewolves, ghouls, zombies, apparitions, demons, witches, fairies, strange disappearances, Sasquatch, healings, clairvoyance, chimerae, saints, angels, UFOs, extra-terrestrial biological entities, inter-dimensional beings--all these and more, form the corpus of what we dub the paranormal.  The appellations vary over time and space, usually culturally and linguistically specific, but are perennial.  Folklorists and anthropologists have collected such lore for centuries, as have scholars of many other disciplines.  To deny that these phenomena have been observed and experienced throughout our history, is to deny a vast component of the intellectual culture of thousands of societies that have existed on this planet since the most primeval of times.

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Dr. B

March

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            What, then, is Biblical anthropology, and how does one use it?  These queries are best answered by looking more closely at the application of anthropology’s subdisciplines to Biblical questions.  The field itself is therefore (or should be) an outgrowth of these methodologies.  Anthropology is composed of four specialized fields:  cultural anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, and physical anthropology.

            Cultural anthropology, or ethnology, is the study of human culture.  All of the aspects of human social behavior, such as politics, kinship, religion, economy, gender, art, ethnicity, and identity, are all central to the field.  It does not take long to see how valuable such an approach can be to the study of the Biblical world.  Normally, the anthropologist has the luxury of interviewing subjects, but scholars may utilize the text in much the way an anthropologist would a transcript.  Scholars such as Moses Finlay and W. Warde Fowler have already demonstrated to great degree how anthropologically valuable Homeric and Roman literature respectively can be.  The Bible has proven equally substantial in reconstructing culture.  Consider the wealth of data on social laws and taboos contained in the Torah, and what they say about the Hebrews during the Patriarchal Period (c. 2000-1500 BC).

            Linguistics may be paired with the ethnological study of the Bible, and often is.  In fact, some foreknowledge of a Biblical language or languages is often necessary to conduct valid work.  In particular ethnolinguistics and historical linguistics, concerned with identity and change respectively, are of particular use in discerning important cultural artifacts.  Languages which aid the Biblical Anthropologist include Semitic tongues like ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Akkadian, Phoenician, Moabite, Edomite, Egyptian, and related languages.  For the Interbiblical Period, New Testament times, and early Christianity, a familiarity with Greek and Latin are necessary as well.  The rationale for proficiency in languages is that language is the medium of culture, it is the vehicle which carries culture (as culture itself is abstract).  As a secondary consideration of the linguistic study of the Bible, historical analysis and all of its pertinent methodologies is a natural epiphenomenon of linguistic Biblical anthropology, as the scholar is working with texts from and related to the Bible, which are rendered in ancient languages.

            Archaeology is, without doubt, the most popular aspect of Biblical anthropology.  By a host of media, magazines, and scholarly journals, the public keeps tabs on the discoveries of the material remains of the Biblical world.  It certainly has a romanticism all its own, although the realities of fieldwork can (and often are) quite different from stories about adventuring, spade-wielding treasure hunters.  Archaeology and cultural anthropology have the same goals in the end:  the reconstruction of culture histories from relevant data.  Biblical archaeology, of course, is concerned with the recovery of material remains from ancient sites of Biblical significance.  These sites are in Israel and other lands associated with the Biblical narrative such as Mesopotamia (Iraq), Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Greece, Italy, and other locales in the Mediterranean Basin (particularly in dealing with early Christianity).  Temples, churches, dwellings, palaces, and other features harbor all manner of artifacts, which, when discovered and analyzed by the processes of archaeology, can yield considerable information about ancient behavior and institutions. 

            Finally, physical anthropology is beneficial to the study of the Bible.  Physical anthropology is concerned with the biological history and makeup of humanity.  In the context of Biblical studies, it is often done in conjunction with archaeology, under whose auspices remains are likely to be found.  This subfield can be helpful in determining such things as the health of populations, lifespan, diet, and lifestyle.

            Biblical anthropology is ultimately concerned with humanity’s relationship with God, and how that relationship affected culture.  It is varied, broad and interdisciplinary in its approach, and specific in its orientation.  By looking at the Bible through the lens of anthropology, one can obtain a greater appreciation for its cultures and for the nuances of lifeways.  While I have repeatedly emphasized the need for certain scholastic tools in the anthropological analysis of the Biblical world, I do not by any means wish to dissuade the layperson from his or her study of Biblical anthropology.  Many peripheral texts exist in translation, making it possible to study Biblical cultures.  Furthermore, a myriad study aids, commentaries, and reports exist to supplement your textual studies.  By better understanding the societies of the Biblical world, we have a firmer grasp on the Bible itself.  This, I think, is good for the scholar and the layperson alike.

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(C) 2026, Judd H. Burton

I will be the first to admit the importance of Herodotus in the great line of historical writers.  Much of historiographical methodology remains anchored to approaches utilized in his work.  However, in recent decades some scholars have begun to call into question the primacy of Herodotus in historiographical tradition.  They suggest that it was the ancient Hebrew lawgiver Moses who was the first great historian–not Herodotus–by centuries.  The case is compelling.

Before plunging headlong into this, what do we mean by “history?”  We hear and see that word all the time.  We sit in classes, read books, and watch programs all with the label “history.”  While that’s all certainly valid, for historians it is more that a noun–it’s a verb.  Simply defined, history is a cultural narrative of the past.  Historiography is generally the word academics use to describe the research and writing of history, as well as a descriptor of the traditions of the discipline and notable contributing historians.  So, it’s the narrative and the act of recording the past.  However, history should be concened with the betterment of humanity, not simply the recoutning of important names and dates.  As one colleague put it to me “we are teachers of morality.”  I can’t argue with that ideal.  At any rate, humans have been doing this in oral form for millennia and with writing for the last 6,000 years.  The reasoned analysis of human culture, as opposed to the recording of the past, is a practice long-believed to have begun with the Greeks of the classical era.  The aforementioned “biggees” like Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenaphon have long been ensconced as the founding fathers of history and anthropology, most notably Herodotus.

Herodotus is famous for his great work The Histories, a rousing account of the Greco-Persian Wars of the fifth century B.C.  He hailed from the city of Halicarnasus in Anatolia and lived from about 485 to 425 B.C.  In addition to his observations and account of the war, he recorded many of the cultures and various ethnicities of the Greek and Persian worlds.  It continues to be required reading in ancient and historiography classes the world over for historians in training, and for good reason.  It is a milemarker in the evolution of history as a discipline, offering a map for the systematic investigationn of historical problems.

Not to step on old Cicero’s toes, but does Herodotus deserve to be called “The Father of History?”  Was there no one in Western history that beat him to the punch? Perhaps there was a king or scribe waiting in the wing.

As it turns out, there is a worthy candidate for an earlier Father of History in the west.  It was none other than the famed Hebrew lawgiver, Moses.  Moses authored the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah.  This collectionof ancient writings forms the basis for Judaism and Christianity, and to an extent, Islam.  The Torah–Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy–is an account of the primeval history of the word, early civilization, Biblical patriarchal history, the cultures and religions of the Ancient Near East, the sacred laws of the Old Covenant, the basis for Jewish culture, the ethnology of regional peoples, and the history of the Hebrews from the Exodus to the Conquest of Canaan.  Its scope is broader than Herodotus, with the same attention to systematic assesment and detail.  

Moses was raised in the Egyptian court with the relevant education.  It would have included the major regional languages and cultures of the Ancient Near East.  For the entirety of his young life, though born a Hebrew, he was culturally Egyptian.  As such, he would have been more than adequate to the task of writing such a record as the Torah when the time came.  Precisely under which pharaoh Moses was raised is a matter of some debate.  The tradition of Rameses II during the 13th century BC has long been the conventional dating of the Exodus, but earlier pharoahs such as Tutmose III in the fourteenth century BC have been suggested.  Recent work produced by scholars like historian David Rohl and archaeologist Manfred Bitek suggest the Hebrews under Joseph were in Egypt as early as the 22nd century B.C., pulling Moses’ advent back even earlier that the 13th and 14th century B.C. reckonings.  However, even if one subscribes to the 13th century dating of Moses and the Exodus out of Egypt, that’s still over 800 years prior to the writing of The Histories by Herodotus.

Why is it important to entertain the notion that Moses was the first great historian of Western tradition?  First, we’re not really downplaying the significance of Herodotus in the development of history as a discipline.  Many elements of the Greek intellectual tradition transmitted Judaism and Christianity to the world at large via the Septuagint, the New Testament, and the writings of the Church Fathers.  It is also important to remember that classical tradition became married to that of Judeo-Christian tradition in the Greek and Roman worlds, and later Europe.  Second, because of that relationship between Judeo-Christian and Greek traditions, it’s crucial to articulate where practices like historiography originate.  A case can certainly be made that Moses began that system of record and inquiry.  So, perhaps it is more accurate to say that Moses was the Father of History, and Herodotus was our favorite Uncle of History.

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The Staff of Moses

Moses was the great law-giver of ancient Judaism.  His story is a popular one, which forms the foundation of the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  In the waning days of the Hebrew bondage under the Egyptians, Moses petitioned the pharaoh to release the enslaved Hebrews.  One of the fixtures in this story was a staff, which he must have acquired in the wilderness of Midian.  One such staff also belonged to his brother Aaron..  He threw the staff down and it turned into a serpent during a showdown with the court priests and magicians (Exodus 7:8-12) On other occasions he held his staff in his hand in the famous parting of the Red Sea.  (Exodus 14:15-16) In a later account, Moses produced water from a rock by striking it with his staff (Numbers 20:11).  Clearly, this was no ordinary hewn tree limb.  It functioned as a mark or authority and a conduit for the power of the Hebrew deity, Yahweh.  Ostensibly, the staff passed to Joshua, but it disappeared from history after the Conquest of Canaan.

Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors

Joseph was one of the great patriarchs of the Hebrew line.  The favored son of Jacob, grandson of Abraham, Joseph could interpret dreams early on, and was granted a beautiful multi-colored garment from his father.  As such he soon fell afoul of his jealous brothers, and they sold him to Ishmaelites into slavery, leading Jacob to believe he was killed. (Genesis 37) The coat itself is described as a beautiful and elaborately colored coat.  His brothers took it and smeared it with blood from a goat to make his father think he’d been murdered.  The coat is significant in that it showed not only favoritism, but who Jacob chose as his successor.  The manner in which Jacob himself acquired his position was by guile, having fooled his father Isaac and stolen his brother Esau’s birthright (Genesis 25:39-34).  Though the canonical scripture does not reference it, that birthright may have been more than simply position, but may have included an ancient relic.  Jasher 27:7-11 tells us that Esau killed the wicked Nimrod, and took back the skin garments belonging to Adam and Eve after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.  If this token of leadership--the birthright--is what Jacob acquired, did he weave this into the impressive raiment for his son and successor?  Whatever the case, Joseph’s brothers discarded the torn and soiled coat, and it too disappeared from our records.

Joseph’s Sarcophagus

Another lost item associated with Joseph was his sarcophagus (Genesis 50:26).  While Joseph’s arrival and early years in Egypt were rocky, he soon gained the attention of the pharaoh as an interpreter of dreams.  After interpreting a troubling dream sequence of the pharaoh, Joseph found favor in the court and the pharaoh appointed him as his chief minister, second only to himself.  It became his duty to oversee the storing of grain and food for a coming drought.  This story, like many in the Bible, is well known.  While Joseph remained devoted to Yahweh, in many respects he was culturally Egyptian.  It is through his position in Egypt that he reunites with his family and the Hebrews settle in eastern Egypt for centuries.  When Moses leads the later generations of Hebrews out of Egypt, amongst the items he takes back to Canaan are the remains of Joseph.  His bones were interred in Egyptian fashion, and the sarcophagus would have housed them.  The last reference to this artifact is (Joshua 24:32), and even if it was preserved during the monarchy, we do not know of its fate, though archaeology has recovered promising remains at the site of Avaris which may solve this riddle.

The Ephod

As the religion of Judaism took shape, the author of the Torah articulated the hierarchy, structure, and form.  Amongst the most interesting pieces of priestly garb was the ephod.  It was a linen garment that contained a breastplate onto which were affixed twelve precious stones, each one representing the 12 tribes of Israel (Exodus 28:5-30).  The ephod was apparently crucial in communicating with Yahweh, and as such was a part of the oracular tradition of ancient Judaism.   When the Babylonians invaded in the 6th century BC, they carted off items from the Temple of Solomon, and the ephod was no doubt amongst them.  It has yet to be recovered from the sands of Iraq.

Urim and Thummim

Two important components of the ephod were stones known as the Urim and Thummim.  The Urim and Thummim were also built into the breastplate of the ephod (Exodus 28:30).  The two stones were used in determining the will of God as part of the cleromantic rites of ancient Judaism.  Their names essentially mean “yes” and “no'' but they literally mean “cursed” and “innocent.”  As with the Ephod the last references to the Urim and Thummim put them in the hands of the Babylonians, though their ultimate destiny is unknown. 

Og’s Bed

Giants are fixtures in the colorful narrative of the Bible, adding to the Tolkienesque backdrop of the story of the ancient Hebrews.  During the Conquest of Canaan, the returning Hebrews had to face a number of giants before reclaiming their ancient homeland.  One such opponent was Og, king of Bashan.  Bashan encompassed the present region of the Golan in the Levant, and its ruler was a Rephaim and if we are to go by the dimension of his “bed,” he likely was at least ten feet tall.  Under the leadership of Joshua, the Hebrews defeated Og and his forces at the Battle of Edrei (Deuteronomy 3:1-7).  Og’s scattered followers took him to the Transjordan and buried him there, a region still littered with basaltic sarcophagi.  In point of fact, his “bed” was likely a sarcophagus, but as to which of the megalithic ruins of the ancient Tranjordan served as his final resting place, we may never know. (Deuteronomy 3:11))

Ehud’s Knife

If you thought the opening forging sequence of “Conan the Barbarian” was something, you should hear the story of the left-handed Biblical Judge Ehud.  Ehud ben-Gera was a Judge in the period immediately before the United Kingdom (1200-1050 B.C.).  His story takes place against the backdrop of a time when God allowed some of Israel’s enemies in the land--Canaanites, Philistines, and many others--to test them. Judges 3 relates that Israel had indeed followed after the religions of these peoples, and turned against God.  As such he used Moab under her king, Eglon, to chastise Israel.  Under Ehud’s leadership, the people repented.  Ehud forged a double-edged knife (short sword really) a cubit (18 inches in length).  Under the pretense of bringing Israel’s tribute to Moab, Ehud sought an audience, but Eglon’s councilors said he was using the bathroom in his private chamber.  Ehud found his way to the chamber, removed his hidden knife, found Eglon and plunged the blade into the rotund Eglon’s belly so deep, that the fat enveloped the hilt.  Ostensibly, the knife remained in Eglon’s body until his burial.  The blade’s ultimate fate remains a mystery. (Judges 3)

Goliath’s Sword and Armor

Perhaps the most famous giant of the Bible was Goliath of Gath, a champion of the Philistine Army.  There aren’t many people who aren’t familiar with the combat between David and Goliath during the battle of Elah as outlined in 1 Samuel 17.  Goliath hurled insults at the Israelites, until David stepped forward to answer his challenge.  David took five stones, placed one in his sling, and incapacitated Goliath with a shot to the head--the other four were for Goliath’s brothers.  With Goliath helpless on the ground, the young lad took the giant's own sword and decapitated him with it.  Goliath’s existence has been in question from more materialistic scholars for centuries, until archaeologists discovered the so-called “Goliath Shard” with his name written on it at Tel es-Safi (Biblical Gath)  The Israelites undoubtedly took Goliath’s great sword, spear, shield, and armor as trophies.  However, whether taken by Egyptians, Babylonians, or other invading peoples is not known, and the status of the fabled armor of the Bible’s most famous giant is, to date, unknown

SEE ALSO: Maeir, A.M., Wimmer, S.J., Zukerman, A. et Demsky, A. 2008, “A Late Iron Age I/Early Iron Age II Old Canaanite Inscription from Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel: Palaeography, Dating, and Historical-Cultural Significance,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 351, 39-71.

Jesus’ Carpentry Tools

They might not seem very glorious, but the tools of Jesus’ earthly trade constitute a valuable cache of cultural artifacts.  In Matthew 13:55 the profession of the Holy Family is given as “tekton,” a Greek word usually translated in the New Testament as “carpenter,” but more accurately “stone mason.”  Joseph and his sons undoubtedly did their share of woodworking, but also stone work, and likely a number of foreman jobs in the area, especially at places like Sephoris.  At any rate, Jesus would have carried the tools of his trade: adzes, hammers, planes, trowels, tools for fine work, and the like.  What became of these after he began his ministry is unknown.  His mother and brothers may have kept them for a time, and certainly if they survived, would have been prime items to become relics in the early church age, however this is only conjecture.

The Sword of Peter

Of all the treasures on the list, this weapon is probably one of the most oft-overlooked.  Peter drew the sword and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, Malchus, the night Jesus was arrested in the garden.  While mentioned in Matthew and Mark, John identifies the wielder of the sword as Peter in John 18:10.  Peter may have kept the weapon for protection on his missionary travels.  The sword’s history after this is somewhat dubious, as there have been many copies that have been touted as the authentic one. One legend has Joseph of Aramathea bringing the sword to England, to Glastonbury, whose Abbot later gave it to St. George.  The fact of the matter is that none of the copies can be authenticated, and the ultimate destination or demise of Peter’s sword remains a lingering question.