EASTSIDE CHURCH OF THE CROSS

2013

The Kansas City Nelson-

Atkins Museum of Art A Biblical-Theological Tour

S. S. Rives

L O U I S B U R G C H U R C H . C O M

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Welcome to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum

This booklet is a companion for our tour of the museum. Our goal is to explore the museum’s ancient

collection of artifacts in order to discover where ancient cultures and scripture meet. Ancient cultures

consist of architecture, temples, kings, roads, horses, land, farming, trade, money, jewelry, clothing,

pottery, writing, history, covenants, and all the rest, and feed into Biblical studies. As we pay close

attention to these details – even the details found in Kansas City’s modest collection – we will be

observing ancient norms and patterns – and these shed light on the sacred texts. Our Bible is a written

record, birthed in the context of the various periods represented in the Nelson-Atkins Museum.

Moses was raised Egyptian, Abraham was from Ur, Judah was in Babylon, Jesus lived under Roman rule,

and the church finds itself scattered throughout the whole world. In each instance, those varied

backgrounds inform and contribute to our understanding of God, his Word, and his people.

The conviction behind this tour is that the culture re-discovered by archaeology is an illuminating ray

that shines on the pages of Scripture. The Bible is the inerrant and authoritative Word of God, and

historical studies help us to hear and interpret that Word as we seek to enjoy our Triune God by it.

Getting our bearings

In this Tour, we will be working from Three Conceptual Sets of Maps:

Map #1: The Physical World, Lands and Geography

Map #2: The History of Kings, Kingdoms, Peoples and Ideas

Map #3: Redemption

Along the way, you need to keep in mind where we are on each of the Three Maps, as it were, especially

as we discuss the relationship of God’s advancing Redemption, to world Geography and the rise and fall

of Kings and Kingdoms. The map of Redemption is the one that all others server, and it divides world

history into epochs: From Garden-Creation to humanity’s attack on God, from the Garden-Attack to

Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses and the Exodus, from the Exodus to Captivity

and Babylonian Exile, from Persia to Rome, from Rome and 2nd Temple Judaism to the Cross. And it is

from Cross to Empty tomb that the great division is established between the Old and New Covenant.

We will move from most ancient to most recent, as follows:

Abraham in Ur

Israel in Egypt

The Exodus

Israel and the Divided Kingdom in Canaan

Judah returning from Captivity

Judah before the time of Jesus

Christianity in the Roman World

Medieval Christianity

Christianity Today and Post-Modern Worldviews

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Pre-Tour Briefing

Ur Jewelry and Abraham The relevant artifacts have been moved from the Nelson Museum, but I leave this section in place as we

get our bearings, for it was the promise to Abraham that God’s people would dwell in Egypt.

Kneeling Deity from Lagash, 2125 BC

Foundation Peg: The god holds the

temple in place.

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Lagash: Abraham’s World

Genesis 11 27

Now these are the

descendants of Terah. Terah was the

father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran;

and Haran was the father of Lot. 28

Haran died before his father Terah in

the land of his birth, in Ur of the

Chaldeans. 29

Abram and Nahor took

wives; the name of Abram’s wife was

Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife

was Milcah. She was the daughter of

Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30

Now Sarai was barren; she had no

child. 31

Terah took his son Abram

and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and

they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they

came to Haran, they settled there. 32

The days of Terah were two hundred five years; and Terah

died in Haran.

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Abraham’s Trip along the Fertile Crescent

Stephen, as he appeals to

the story of the Kingdom of

God, he goes back to

Abraham:

Acts 7:1 Then the high

priest asked him, “Are

these things so?” 2

And

Stephen replied: “Brothers

and fathers, listen to me.

The God of glory appeared

to our ancestor Abraham

when he was in

Mesopotamia, before he

lived in Haran, 3

and said

to him, ‘Leave your

country and your relatives

and go to the land that I will show you.’ 4

Then he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in

Haran. After his father died, God had him move from there to this country in which you are now

living. 5

He did not give him any of it as a heritage, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give

it to him as his possession and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. 6

And

God spoke in these terms, that his descendants would be resident aliens in a country belonging to

others, who would enslave them and mistreat them during four hundred years.

History is explained in Redemptive

Epochs, including the Call of Abraham

and the Time of Egyptian Slavery.

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Lower

Egypt

Upper

Egypt

Egypt: The Two Lands

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Stop 1. Israel in Egypt: Nefertiti, Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV)

Queen Nefertiti: 1370BC -1330BC

Nefertiti was wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, whose name means Amen is satisfied. Amen/Amun was

worshiped in Thebes (the powerbase of the priests).

Religious Renovations

Amenhotep IV takes the name,

Akenaten (Aten is “the disc of the

sun”) and moves capital from Thebes

to Akhetaten (Amarna). The new city

was soon demolished and

abandoned.

1. Polytheism

2. Henotheism (worship of one

god, while accepting that

others can worship other

gods).

3. Monolatry (accepts existence

of other gods, but only one is

worthy of worship)

4. Monotheism (belief in one

deity)

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A City and a Cache of Clay Tablets (the Amarna Letters)

Providentially, this period, this city (its abandonment) and the resulting excavations have granted us

great insight into Canaan (and the Habiru). This introduction ס ִ by Shlomo Izr’el of Tel Aviv University,

the model is from the University of Cambridge, www.AmarnaProject.com.

The Amarna tablets are named after the site Tell el-Amarna (in middle Egypt)

where they were discovered. The first Amarna tablets were found by local

inhabitants in 1887. They form the majority of the corpus. Subsequent

excavations

at the site

have yielded

less than 50

out of the

382 itemized

tablets and

fragments

which form

the Amarna

corpus known

to date.

The majority

of the Amarna

tablets are

letters.

These letters

were sent to

the Egyptian

Pharaohs

Amenophis III

and his son Akhenaten around the middle of the 14th century B.C. The

correspondents were kings of Babylonia, Assyria, Hatti and Mitanni, minor

kings and rulers of the Near East at that time, and vassals of the Egyptian

Empire.

Almost immediately following their discovery, the Amarna tablets were

deciphered, studied and published. Their importance as a major source for the

knowledge of the history and politics of the Ancient Near East during the

14th Century B.C. was recognized. The tablets presented several difficulties

to scholars. The Amarna tablets are written in Akkadian cuneiform script and

present many features which are peculiar and unknown from any other Akkadian

dialect. This was most evident in the letters sent from Canaan, which were

written in a mixed language (Canaanite-Akkadian). The Amarna letters from

Canaan have proved to be the most important source for the study of the

Canaanite dialects in the pre-Israelite period.

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A Letter from Abdu-Heba of Jerusalem (EA 286)

To the king, my Lord, thus speaks Abdu-Heba, your servant.

At the feet of the king, my Lord, seven times and seven times I

prostrate myself. What have I done to the king, my Lord? They

blame me before the king, my Lord, saying: " Abdu-Heba has

rebelled against the king, my Lord ". I am here, as far as I am

concerned, it was not my father, nor my mother, who put to me

in this position; the arm of the powerful king lead me to the

house of my father! Why would I commit a transgression

against the king, my Lord.

While the king, my Lord, lives, I will say to the commissioner

of the king, my Lord: " Why do you favour the Hapiru and are

opposed to the rulers? " And thus I am accused before the king,

my Lord. Because it is said: " Lost are the territories of the king,

my Lord ". Thus am I calumniated before the king, my Lord!

But may the king, my Lord know, that, when the king sent a

garrison, Yanhamu [The Egyptian commissioner in Palestine]

seized everything, and... the land of Egypt... Oh king, my Lord, there are no garrison troops here!

(Therefore), the king takes care of his land! May the king take care of his land! ! All the

territories of the king have rebelled; Ilimilku caused the loss of all the territories of the king. May

the king take care of his land!

I repeat:

Allow me

to enter

the

presence

of the

king, my

Lord, and

let me

look into

both eyes

of the

king, my

Lord. But

the

hostility

against

me is strong, and I cannot enter the presence of the king, my Lord. May t he king send garrison

troops, in order that I may enter and look into the eyes of the king, my Lord. So certain as the

king, my Lord, lives, when the commissioners come, I will say: Lost are the territories of the

king. Do you not hear to me? All the rulers are lost; the king, my Lord, does not have a single

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ruler left. May the king direct his attention to the archers, and may the king, my Lord, send

troops of archers, the king has no more lands. The Hapiru sack the territories of the king. If there

are archers (here) this year, all the territories of the king will remain (intact); but if there are no

archers, the territories of the king, my Lord, will be lost!

To the king, my Lord thus writes Abdu-Heba, your servant. He conveys eloquent words to the

king, my Lord. All the territories of the king, my Lord, are lost.

Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten (d.1334) Tutankhaten: Tutankamen (1341–1323) Heretic King Tutankaten Defender of Orthodoxy

Stop 2: Ramases and The Exodus

19th Dynasty Pharaoh Dates

Ramesses I 1292 - 1290 Seti I 1290 - 1279 Ramesses II the Great 1279 - 1213 Merneptah (“Israel’s Seed”) 1213 – 1203 Amenmesse 1203 - 1199 Seti II 1199 - 1193 Siptah 1193 - 1187 Twosret 1187 – 1185

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But when was the Exodus?

Option 1: The Exodus Under Rameses?

Exodus 1:8

Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9

He said to

his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than

we. 10

Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of

war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11

Therefore

they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply

cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. 12

But the more they were oppressed, the

more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites

Option 2: Under Thutmose III?

1 Kings 6: In the 480th year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in

the 4th year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second

month, he began to build the house of the YAHWEH.

1. Solomon reigned from 970 BC - 928BC

2. The 4th

year of his reign = 967 BC

3. 480 years earlier = 1447 BC

18th Dynasty Pharaoh Dates of Reign

Ahmose I (Nebpehtyre) 1550 BC – 1525 BC

Amenhotep I (Djeserkare) 1525 BC – 1504 BC

Thutmose I (Akheperkare) 1504 BC – 1492 BC

Thutmose II Akheperenre) 1492 BC – 1479 BC

Thutmose III (Menkheperre) 1479 BC – 1425 BC

Hatshepsut (Maatkare) 1479 BC – 1457 BC

Amenhotep II (Akheperure) 1427 BC – 1401 BC

Thutmose IV (Menkheperure) 1401 BC – 1391 BC

Amenhotep III (Nebmaatre) 1391 BC – 1353 BC

Akhenaten (Neferkheperure-waenre) 1353 BC – 1334 BC

Smenkhkare (Ankhkheperure) 1336 BC – 1334 BC

Tutankhamun (Nebkheperure) 1334 BC – 1325 BC

Kheperkheprure Ay 1325 BC – 1321 BC

Horemheb (Djeserkheperure) 1321 BC – 1292 BC

Option 3: Ahmose I/Amenhotep I ?

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Acts 13: “You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen. 17

The God of this people

Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay in the land of

Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18

For about forty years he put up

with them in the wilderness. 19

After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of

Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance 20

for about four hundred fifty

years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. 21

Then

they asked for a king; and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of

Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. 22

When he had removed him, he made David

their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be

a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.

David (~1000 BC) + Saul’s Reign (40) + Before the Judges (450 ) + Judges (???) + Wilderness (40)

1000 + 40 + 450 + ??? + 40 = 1000 + 490 + 40 = 1000 + 530 = 1530

What takes precedence: Numbers or Names?

Note: 480 = 40 * 12;

LXX has 460

Stop 3: Hieroglyphs: Translating Meteti and Ramases

Introduction to Hieroglyphs

Translating Ramases: See attached worksheets with translation exercises

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Stop 4: Superior Technology and the Rise of Assyrian Dominance

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Step 5: Ashurnasirpa II – Israel Prepares for Assyria

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Isaiah 6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw

the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the

hem of his robe filled the temple. 2

Seraphs were in

attendance above him; each had six wings: with two

they covered their faces, and with two they covered

their feet, and with two they flew. 3

And one called

to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD

of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4 The foundation/pivots on the thresholds shook at

the voices of those who called, and the house filled

with smoke. 5

And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for

I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a

people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the

King, the LORD of hosts!” 6

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a

live coal that had been taken from the altar with a

pair of tongs. 7

The seraph touched my mouth with it

and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your

guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”

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Assyrian Kings

Adad-nirari II 912 - 891 BC

Tukulti-Ninurta II 891 - 884 BC

Ashur-nasir-pal II 884 - 859 BC

Shalmaneser III 859 - 824 BC First Assyrian king to come in conflict with Israel. Ahab fought him. Jehu paid tribute to him

Shamshi-Adad V 822 - 811 BC

Shammu-ramat 811 - 808 BC (regent)

Adad-nirari III 811 - 783 BC

Shalmaneser IV 783 - 773 BC

Ashur-Dan III 773 - 755 BC

Ashur-nirari V 755 - 745 BC

Tiglath-Pileser III 745 - 727 BC "Pul" He carried North Israel into captivity, 734 B.C. Isaiah 7; II Kings 15:19-20

Shalmaneser V 727 - 709 BC Besieged Samaria and died in the siege.

Sargon II 722 - 705 BC (Co-regency with Shalmaneser V) Completed destruction of Samaria and Israel's captivity. Sargon I was a Babylonian King of 2000 years earlier. II Kings 17:5. Massive deportation of people who refuse to be good vassals. Isaiah 20:1 (University of Chicago!)

Sennacherib 705 - 681 BC Burned Babylon (II Chron. 32). Defeated by an angel before Jerusalem in 701 B.C. (Isaiah 37:33-38)

Esarhaddon 681 - 669 BC Rebuilt Babylon. Conquered Egypt (Nahum 3). Was one of the greatest of Assyrian kings. Isaiah 37:38

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Ashurnasirpal II

Great King of Assyria: Builder of Nimrud (Calah)

Nimrud is the Arabic name. The ancient name was Calah, or Kalah. The Arabs called it Nimrud after

Nimrod, the mighty hunter we read of in scripture, father of Ashur (Assur), the whose name explains

why Assyrians are called Assyrians.

Genesis 10

1 These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; sons were born

to them after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

3 The

sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4

The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish,

Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastland peoples spread. These are the sons of

Japheth in their lands, each with his own language, by their families, in their nations. 6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.

7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah,

Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush became the

father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter

before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” 10

The

beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. 11

From that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah [modern name:

Nimrud/Nimrod], and 12

Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. 13

Egypt

became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naph-tuhim, 14

Pathrusim, Casluhim

(whence came the Philistines), and Caphtorim.

17

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This next picture shows the entrance to Ashurnasirpal II’s Abode (this was painted by Frederick Cooper,

1850).

An inscription was carved across the surface of each of the large stone relief panels that lined the walls of the Northwest Palace. This text is now called the Standard Inscription because it is repeated with only minor variations on each slab. It is written from left to right in the Neo-Assyrian dialect of Akkadian, a Semitic language. The wedge-shaped script is known as cuneiform, after the Latin word cuneus ("wedge"). Each of the cuneiform signs denotes an individual syllable. The Standard Inscription describes the reign of Ashurnasirpal II, his role as the priest and ruler chosen by the gods, his royal lineage, successful military campaigns, and the royal building activity in the city of Kalhu (Nimrud). Throughout the text, Ashurnasirpal is lauded as the invincible ruler of Assyria, the king of the world. The translation that follows is adapted from Samuel M. Paley, King of the World: Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria 883–859 B.C.

(New York: The Brooklyn Museum, 1976), pp. 125–44.

(Ashurnasirpal)

(The Great King)

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[Location] The palace of Ashurnasirpal,

[Lineage of the King] chief priest of Ashur, the chosen one of Enlil and Ninurta, the favorite of Anu and

Dagan, the divine weapon of the Great Gods, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria;

the son of Tukulti-Ninurta, the great king, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria; the

son of Adad-nirari, the king of the world, the king of Assyria;

[The Heroic Warrior] the powerful warrior who always lived by [his trust] in Ashur, his lord; who has no

rival among the princes of the four quarters of the earth; [who is] the shepherd of his people, fearless in

battle, the overpowering tidewater who has no opponent; [who is] the king, subjugator of the

unsubmissive, who rules the total sum of all humanity; [who is] the potent warrior, who tramples his

enemies, who crushes all the adversaries; [who is] the disperser of the host of the haughty; [who is] the

king who always lived by [his] trust in the Great Gods, his lords; and captured all the lands himself, ruled

all their mountainous districts, [and] received their tribute; who takes hostages, who establishes victory

over all their lands.

[Summary of the Campaign] When Ashur, who selected me, who made my kingship great, entrusted his

merciless weapon into my lordly arms, I verily struck down the widespread troops of Lullumu with

weapons, during the battle encounter. As for the troops of the lands of Nairi, Habhu, Shubaru, and Nirbu,

I roared over them like Adad the destroyer, with the aid of Shamash and Adad, my helper gods. [I am] the

king who caused [the lands] from the other bank of the Tigris to the Lebanon and the Great Sea, the

whole of Laqu, and Suhu as far as Rapiqu, to submit; [who] himself conquered [the territory] from the

source of the Subnat River to Urartu; [who] annexed as my own territory [the area] from the pass of

Kirruru to Gilzanu, from the other bank of the Lower Zab to Til Bari which is upstream from Zaban, from

Til sha Abtani to Til sha Zabdani. I counted as my own people [those who occupy the territory] from the

pass of Babite to Hashmar. I set my resident [official]s in the lands over which I ruled [and imposed upon

them] obeisance and [forced labor].

[The King as Warrior and Protector of His People] [I am] Ashurnasirpal, the obedient prince, the

worshiper of the Great Gods, the fierce dragon, the conqueror of all cities and mountains to their full

extent, the king of rulers, who tames the dangerous enemies, the [one] crowned with glory, the [one]

unafraid of battle, the relentless lion, who shakes resistance, the king [deserving] of praise, the shepherd,

protection of the world, the king whose command blots out mountains and seas, who forced into

compliance the relentless, fierce kings from the east to the west at his very approach.

[The City] The former Kalhu, which Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, the lord my predecessor, built—that

city was dilapidated and deserted. I built that city anew. As for my own captives from the lands over which

I ruled—those from Suhu, the whole of Laqu, Sirqu which is on the opposite bank of the Euphrates-

crossing, all Zamua, Bit Adini, and Hattu, and that of Lubarna of Hattina—I took and settled them therein.

I removed the ancient tell. I went down as far as the headwaters. I laid in 120 brick courses into the

depths. (From [the level of] the headwaters, I made a fill of 120 brick courses up to the top.)

[The Palace] I built thereon [a palace with] halls of cedar, cypress, juniper, boxwood, teak, terebinth, and

tamarisk [?] as my royal dwelling and for the enduring leisure life of my lordship. Beasts of the mountains

and the seas, which I had fashioned out of white limestone and alabaster, I had set up in its gates. I made

[the palace] fittingly imposing. I bordered them all around with bronze studs. I mounted doors of cedar,

cypress, juniper, and terebinth in its gates. Silver, gold, tin, bronze, iron, my own booty from the lands

over which I ruled, as much as possible, I brought [to the palace]; I placed it all therein.

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Theology Elements of the Assyrian World:

1. A King who is a Priest: The union of two offices into one; note that in Egypt it was likewise. In

Israel, however, there was a separation of offices, even as the King was the great builder and

protector of the temple. 2. Winged Creatures to Guard the Entrance 3. Language that is Larger Than Life – Compare Isaiah 13.

Stop 6: Persepolis The Persian Empire

Tribute bearers

Malachi 1:6 A son honors his father, and servants their master. If then I am a father, where is the

honor due me? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the LORD of hosts to you,

O priests, who despise my name. You say, “How have we despised your name?” 7 By offering

polluted food on my altar. And you say, “How have we polluted it?” By thinking that the

LORD’s table may be despised. 8

When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not wrong?

And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not wrong? Try presenting that to your

governor; will he be pleased with you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts.

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Achaemenid dynasty, 550–330 BC 1. Achaemenes, founder of the dynasty, king of Persia.

2. Teispes of Anshan, his son, king of Persia, king of Anshan, died 640.

3. Cyrus I of Anshan, son of Teispes, king of Anshan 640–580.

4. Cambyses I of Anshan, his son, king of Anshan 580–559.

5. Cyrus II the Great, his son, king of Anshan 559–529. He conquered the Median Empire in 550

and established the Persian Empire – established the Persian Empire and ruled it from 550–529.

Ezra 1: In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order that the word of the LORD

by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of

King Cyrus of Persia so that he sent a herald throughout all his kingdom, and also

in a written edict declared: 2

“Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The

LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all

the kingdoms of the earth, and he has

charged me to build him a house at

Jerusalem in Judah. 3

Any of those among

you who are of his people—may their God

be with them!—are now permitted to go up

to Jerusalem in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of

Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem; 4

and let all survivors, in

whatever place they reside, be assisted by the people of their place with

silver and gold, with goods and with animals, besides freewill offerings

for the house of God in Jerusalem.”

22

Isaiah 45: Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,

whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations

before him and strip kings of their robes, to open doors

before him— and the gates shall not be closed: 2 I will

go before you and level the mountains, I will break in

pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of

iron, 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and

riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that

it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your

name.

6. Cambyses II, his son, ruled 530–522.

7. Smerdis, his alleged brother, ruled 522.

8. Darius I the Great, son of Hystaspes, ruled 521–486. Builder of Persepolis

Ezra 4:4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and made them

afraid to build, 5

and they bribed officials to frustrate their plan throughout the reign of

King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia.

HAGGAI: The Command to Rebuild the Temple – See also Ezra 5.1

Haggai 1:1 In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month,

the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of

Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: These

people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house. 3 Then the word of the Lord

came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 4 Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled

houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how

you have fared. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have

enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and

you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.

9. Xerxes I, his son, ruled 486–465.

10. Artaxerxes I Longimanus, son of Xerxes 1, ruled 464–424.

Esther 1:1 This happened in the days of Ahasuerus, the same Ahasuerus who ruled

over one hundred twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia. 2 In those days

when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, 3

in the third

year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers. The army of

Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were present, 4

while he displayed the great wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and pomp of

his majesty for many days, one hundred eighty days in all.

23

Rationale for identifying Artaxerxes in Esther:

Ahasuerus is given as the name of the King of Persia in the Book of Esther. He was

generally identified with Xerxes I of Persia, although this assumption is now rejected by

most scholars. The Greek version of the Book of Esther refers to him as Artaxerxes, and

the historian Josephus relates that this was the name by which he was known to the

Greeks.

Similarly, the Midrash of Esther Rabba, I, 3 identifies the King as Artaxerxes. The Ethiopic

text calls him Arťeksis, usually the Ethiopic equivalent of Artaxerxes.

Nehemiah 2 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when

wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never

been sad in his presence before. 2

So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since

you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much

afraid. 3

I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be

sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste, and its gates have

been destroyed by fire?” 4

Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I

prayed to the God of heaven. 5

Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if

your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of

my ancestors’ graves, so that I may rebuild it.” 6

The king said to me (the queen also

was sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So

it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a date. 7

Then I said to the king, “If it

pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the

River, that they may grant me passage until I arrive in Judah; 8 and a letter to Asaph,

the keeper of the king’s forest, directing him to give me timber to make beams for the

gates of the temple fortress, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall

occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the gracious hand of my God was

upon me.

9 Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and gave them

the king’s letters. Now the king had sent officers of the army and cavalry with me. 10

When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard this, it

displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of

Israel.

11. Xerxes II, his son, ruled 424.

12. Sogdianus, his half-brother, ruled 424–423.

13. Darius II Nothus, his half-brother and rival, ruled 423–404.

14. Artaxerxes II Memnon, his son, ruled 404–358 (see also Xenophon).

24

15. Artaxerxes III Ochus, his son, ruled 358–338.

16. Artaxerxes IV Arses, his son, ruled 338–336.

17. Darius III Codomannus, great-grandson of Darius II, ruled 336–330.

18. Artaxerxes V Bessus, a usurper who murdered Darius and continued the resistance against

Alexander the Great from 330–329.

25

26

Nehemiah 9:33

You have been just in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and

we have acted wickedly; 34

our kings, our officials, our priests, and our ancestors have not kept

your law or heeded the commandments and the warnings that you gave them. 35

Even in their

own kingdom, and in the great goodness you bestowed on them, and in the large and rich land

that you set before them, they did not serve you and did not turn from their wicked works. 36

Here we are, slaves to this day—slaves in the land that you gave to our ancestors to enjoy its fruit

and its good gifts. 37

Its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our

sins; they have power also over our bodies and over our livestock at their pleasure, and we are in

great distress.”

Ezra 7 The Letter of Artaxerxes to Ezra

11 This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to the priest Ezra, the scribe, a

scholar of the text of the commandments of the LORD and his statutes for Israel: 12

“Artaxerxes,

king of kings, to the priest Ezra, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven: Peace. And now 13

I

decree that any of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom who freely offers

to go to Jerusalem may go with you. 14

For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to

make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your

hand, 15

and also to convey the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely

offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, 16

with all the silver and gold that

you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and with the freewill offerings of the people

and the priests, given willingly for the house of their God in Jerusalem. 17

With this money, then,

you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, and their grain offerings and their drink

offerings, and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem. 18

Whatever seems good to you and your colleagues to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you

may do, according to the will of your God. 19

The vessels that have been given you for the

service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem. 20

And whatever

else is required for the house of your God, which you are responsible for providing, you may

provide out of the king’s treasury. 21

“I, King Artaxerxes, decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River:

Whatever the priest Ezra, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be

done with all diligence, 22

up to one hundred talents of silver, one hundred cors of wheat, one

hundred baths of wine, one hundred baths of oil, and unlimited salt. 23

Whatever is commanded

by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, or wrath will

come upon the realm of the king and his heirs. 24

We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to

impose tribute, custom, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the

temple servants, or other servants of this house of God. 25

“And you, Ezra, according to the God-given wisdom you possess, appoint magistrates and

judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River who know the laws of

your God; and you shall teach those who do not know them. 26

All who will not obey the law of

your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on them, whether for death or

for banishment or for confiscation of their goods or for imprisonment.”

27

Stop 7: Ptolemy Alexander the Great rules the world. Following his death, there is a division of his kingdom

28

The Egyptian Kings after Alexander the Great

1. Ptolemy I Soter (305 BC-282 BC)

2. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (284 BC-246 BC)

Creator of the LXX – the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament

“The Septuagint or simply LXX, is the Koine Greek version of

the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the 3rd and

1st centuries BC in Alexandria. The Septuagint also includes

some books not found in the Hebrew Bible.”

Shown to the right: Codex Sinaiticus, Esther 2:3-8

3. Ptolemy III Euergetes (246 BC-222 BC)

4. Ptolemy IV Philopator (222 BC-204 BC)

“III Maccabees purports to record a persecution of the Jews in

Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy (IV.) Philopator (222-

204 B.C.). The Jews are assembled in the hippodrome, and 500

infuriated elephants are to be let loose upon them. In the event

the elephants turned against the persecutors, and the Jews not

only escaped, but were treated with much honor by the king.” – Jewish Encyclopedia

5. Ptolemy V Epiphanes (204 BC-180 BC) – Commemorated in the Rosetta Stone

THE DECREE: The high priests and

prophets, and those who enter the

inner shrine in order to robe the gods,

and those who wear the hawk's wing,

and the sacred scribes, and all the

other priests who have assembled at

Memphis before the king, from the

various temples throughout the

country, for the feast of his receiving

the kingdom, even that of Ptolemy the

ever-living, beloved by Ptah, the god

Manifest and Gracious, which he

received from his Father, being

assembled in the temple in Memphis

this day, declared: Since King Ptolemy,

the ever-living, beloved by Ptah, the

god Manifest and Gracious, the son of

King Ptolemy and Queen Arsinoë, the

29

Parent-loving gods, has done many benefactions to the temples and to those who dwell in

them, and also to all those subject to his rule, being from the beginning a god born of a god

and a goddess—like Horus, the son of Isis and Osirus, who came to the help of his Father

Osirus; being benevolently disposed toward the gods, has concentrated to the temples

revenues both of silver and of grain, and has generously undergone many expenses in order

to lead Egypt to prosperity and to establish the temples... the gods have rewarded him with

health, victory, power, and all other good things, his sovereignty to continue to him and his

children forever.

6. Ptolemy VI Philometor (180 BC-164 BC, 163 BC-145 BC)

Ruled during the Maccabeean Revolt (168-135)

“Ptolemy VI "Philometor" - his armies were defeated when Antiochus IV Epiphanes invaded

Egypt (1 Macc 1:16-19); he agreed to an alliance through the marriage of his daughter

Cleopatra II with Alexander Balas (1 Macc 10:51-66); he attempted to take over the Seleucid

territories, which ended in his own death and that of Alexander Balas (11:1-19); one of his

teachers was the Jewish priest Aristobulus (2 Macc 1:10); his territory provided refuge for

people fleeing from the Seleucids (2 Macc 9:29, explicitly names him "Ptolemy

Philometor").”

1 Maccabees 1:16 When Antiochus saw that his kingdom was established, he

determined to become king of the land of Egypt, in order that he might reign over

both kingdoms. 17

So he invaded Egypt with a strong force, with chariots and

elephants and cavalry and with a large fleet. 18

He engaged King Ptolemy of Egypt

in battle, and Ptolemy turned and fled before him, and many were wounded and

fell. 19

They captured the fortified cities in the land of Egypt, and he plundered the

land of Egypt. 20

After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the one hundred

forty-third year [169 BC]. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with

a strong force. 21

He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar,

the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils.

….

1 Maccabees 10:51 Then Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemy king of Egypt

with the following message: 52

“Since I have returned to my kingdom and have

taken my seat on the throne of my ancestors, and established my rule—for I

crushed Demetrius and gained control of our country; 53

I met him in battle, and

he and his army were crushed by us, and we have taken our seat on the throne of

his kingdom— 54

now therefore let us establish friendship with one another; give

me now your daughter as my wife, and I will become your son-in-law, and will

make gifts to you and to her in keeping with your position.”

55 Ptolemy the king replied and said, “Happy was the day on which you

returned to the land of your ancestors and took your seat on the throne of their

30

kingdom. 56

And now I will do for you as you wrote, but meet me at Ptolemais, so

that we may see one another, and I will become your father-in-law, as you have

said.” 57

So Ptolemy set out from Egypt, he and his daughter Cleopatra, and came to

Ptolemais in the one hundred sixty-second year [150 BC]. 58

King Alexander met

him, and Ptolemy gave him his daughter Cleopatra in marriage, and celebrated

her wedding at Ptolemais with great pomp, as kings do.

7. Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator (never reigned)

8. Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (Physcon) (170 BC-163 BC, 145 BC-116 BC) – see 1 Macc 15:15-21

Notes from the Catholic scholar, Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.

Note 1: the Books of the Maccabees mention several other people named "Ptolemy," apart from

the above rulers:

Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes (1 Macc 3:38); adviser to king Antiochus IV (2 Macc

4:45-46; 6:8); later becomes governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia (2 Macc 8:8);

probably the same person as: Ptolemy, who was called Macron (2 Macc 10:12) - supports Antiochus IV during

his invasion of Cyprus 168 BC. Ptolemy, son of Abubu (1 Macc 16:11); son-in-law of Simon Maccabeus; he kills

Simon and his sons Judas and Mattathias in 134 BC near Jericho (1 Lacc 16:11-18). Ptolemy, son of Dositheus (Esther 11:1) - father and son together deliver a letter

about the events of Purim to people in Egypt. Ptolemy, father of Lysimachus (Esther 11:1 - a resident of Jerusalem whose son

(Lysimachus) translated the aforementioned letter.

Note 2: there is also a city called "Ptolemais" - ancient Acco, renamed after the Ptolemies in

the 3rd cent. BC; an important port on the Mediterranean (just north of modern Haifa); citizens of

Ptolemais fought against the Maccabees and were generally hostile against the Jews (see 1 Macc

5:15, 22, 55; 10:1, 39, 56-60; 11:22-24; 12:45-48; 13:21; 2 Macc 6:8(var.); 13:24-25); in the mid-

first century AD, Paul visits Ptolemais, where there are already some Christians (Acts 21:7).

9. Cleopatra II Philometora Soteira (131 BC-127 BC)

10. Cleopatra III Philometor Soteira Dikaiosyne Nikephoros (Kokke) (116 BC-101 BC)

11. Ptolemy IX Soter II (Lathyros) (116 BC-107 BC, 88 BC-81 BC as Soter II)

12. Ptolemy X Alexander I (107 BC-88 BC)

13. Berenice III Philopator (81 BC-80 BC)

14. Ptolemy XI Alexander II (80 BC)

15. Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos (Auletes) (80 BC-58 BC, 55 BC-51 BC) married Cleopatra V

Tryphaena

16. Cleopatra V Tryphaena (58 BC-57 BC)

17. Cleopatra VII Thea Neotera (51 BC-30 BC), Queen of Egypt,

31

Stop 8: Hadrian (117-138) and Bar Kochba (ruled AD 132-136)

Augustus 27BC - AD 14

Tiberius 14-37

Gaius 37-41

Claudius 41-54

Nero 54-68

Galba 68

Otho 69

Vitellius 69

Vespasian 69-79

Titus 79-81

Domitian 81-96

Nerva 96-98

Trajan 98-117

Hadrian 117-38

Antonius Pius 139-61

Marcus Aurelius 161-80

Lucius Verus 161-69

Commodus 180-92

Pertinax 193

Didius Julianus 193

Septimius Severus 193-211

Caracalla 198-217

Macrinus 217-18

Elagabalus 218-22

Severus Alexander 222-35

Maximinius 235-38

Gordian I and II 238

Balbinus and Pupienus 238

Gordian III 238-44

Philip 244-49

Decius 249-51

Gallus 251-53

Aemilianus 253

Valerian 253-60

Gallienus 253-68

Claudius II Gothicus 268-70

Quintillus 270

Aurelian 270-75

Tacitus 275-76

Florianus 276

Probus 276-82

Carus 282-83

Numerianus 283-84

Carinus 283-85

Diocletian 284-305

Maximian 286-305

Constantius 305-06

Galerius 305-11

Severus 306-07

Licinius 308-24

Maximinus Daia 310-13

Constantine 306-37

32

Matthew 24:4 Jesus answered them, “Beware that no one leads

you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the

Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of

wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this

must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against

nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines

and earthquakes in various places: 8 all this is but the beginning of

the birth pangs.

Luke 21:20 “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by

armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21

Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those

inside the city must leave it, and those out in the country

must not enter it; 22 for these are days of vengeance, as a

fulfillment of all that is written. 23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are

nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against

this people; 24 they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among

all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the

Gentiles are fulfilled

33

The Church and the Epoch of Emperors and Rival Politics: Acts 17:

6 When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before

the city authorities, shouting, “These people who have been turning the world upside

down have come here also, 7

and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting

contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.” 8

The people and the city officials were disturbed when they heard this,

Stop 9: Carcalla (22nd Emperor, Reigned 209-217) Ruled in the time of Tertullian (160 – 220), son of a centurion.

(Carcalla) Denarius

Obverse Legend: ANTONINVS

PIVS AVG

Obverse: Draped and laureate

bust right

Reverse Legend: PART MAX

PONT TR P IIII

Reverse: A trophy with two

captives seated at its base

34

Stop 10: Severus Alexander (26th Emperor, ruled 222 – 235) Gave the Severus Scroll (taken from Jerusalem by Titus) to the Synagogue in Rome, see Genesis Rabbati.

Stop 11: Being a Body vs. Being Remembered Death and Burial in the Greek and Roman World

Muse means: the one who remembers. They are the daughters of the titan Mnemosyne who

is the personification of remembrance. All nine muses have a science or an art to protect.

Cleo protects the stories of heroes, Urania astronomy, Calliope elegies, Melpomene the

tragedies, Euterpe flute playing, Erato love poems, Tepsicore choir lyrics, Thalia the

comedies and Polyhymnia dance and music.

Calliope was the muse of

epic poetry.

Clio was the muse of history.

Erato was the muse of love

poetry.

Euterpe was the muse of

music.

Melpomene was the muse of

tragedy.

Polyhymnia was the muse of

sacred poetry.

Terpsichore was the muse of

dance.

Thalia was the muse of

comedy.

Urania was the muse of

astronomy.

35

Stop 12: Nelson-Atkins as a Message

A message among many messages (which is a single Postmodern Message)

A world of messages rejecting or ignoring another message

Three can be no message without a message sender. God

spoke in history, and artifacts from when he spoke

corroborate with the official record of his speaking (the

scriptures).

In a derivative way, a museum will exhibit some ideas of its

collectors (the people who gathered the artifacts and art),

owners and curators. A museum contains a message (or

many messages). That message can be sequential or it can be disjointed—or a mixture of both. Either

way, planning goes into it. There is a message in the collection implicit in how curators execute their

job.

36

Stop 13: Bonus Stop. Go Upstairs and Find this Photo

“Painted by Frederic Edwin Church, American, 1826-1900. Title: Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, 1870

Oil on canvas. Unframed: 54 1/4 x 84 3/8 inches (137.8 x 214.31 cm) Framed: 6 feet 10 7/8 inches x 9 feet

6 inches x 6 inches (210.49 x 289.56 x 15.24 cm).

The only formal pupil of Thomas Cole, Frederic Church raised landscape painting to new heights of grandeur

and melodrama throughout the third quarter of the 19th century. Church’s monumental and

dramatic Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives shows the Holy City on the distant horizon. It is situated in the

midst of a panoramic landscape and beneath an expansive sky filled with heavy clouds that seem to pull

back like stage curtains at the beginning of a performance. Anonymous travelers look on in the foreground

and serve as surrogates for actual viewers of the painting. Near the center of the composition sits one of the

city’s most important structures, the Dome of the Rock. Many other identifiable sites can be seen both

within and outside Jerusalem’s ancient walls.

Church maintained that Jerusalem was the best picture he ever painted. When the painting was given a solo

showing at Goupil’s Gallery in New York in 1871, spectators flocked to see it, often forming six rows of

people at a time and using opera glasses to see the astonishing details more clearly. Church published a

pictorial key so that the painting’s admirers could locate sacred sites as well as appreciate Jerusalem’s

accuracy.”1

Significance: This is what Jerusalem looked like before modern times. This is closer to what the ancient

world knew compared to what we experience today. 1 Quoted from the Nelson web site on the painting.