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Mysteries Of The Bible: From The Location Of Eden To The Shroud Of Turin : A Collection Of Essays Published By The Biblical Archaeology Society
Written by an international team of experts on the Bible and Near Eastern archaeology, Mysteries of the Bible provides informed scholarly, yet readable introductions to topics that are of perpetual fascination. Maps illustrate the possible route of the Exodus, the location of Mt. Sinai, the journeys of the Ark of the covenant and more. This collection will both educate and entertain.
208 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2004
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September 22, 2025
I got this book because it was one of three in my library system coauthored by the archaeologist Israel Finkelstein. As it turned out, Finkelstein contributed only one short essay to this collection, and it wasn’t especially significant or enlightening. It was a response to another archaeologist Emmanuel Anati, who claimed, rather bizarrely, that Mt. Sinai was actually Har Karkom, a mountain in the southwest Negev desert. What makes the claim bizarre is that in order for it to work, the Exodus has to be redated to the second millennium BC!
Nevertheless, this collection of essays was well worth reading, at least for me. Anati's essay was not the only one disputing the traditional location of Mt. Sinai. Allen Kerkeslager suggests that Jebel al-Lawz, a mountain in Saudi Arabia was Mt. Sinai, was the original Mt. Sinai. I found it interesting that Jubilees 8.19 suggests that Mt. Sinai is in Saudi Arabia.
I wasn’t exactly doing backflips when I saw that Ben Witherington had written an essay for this collection. Witherington is a conservative Christian scholar who was quoted several times in Evidence that Demands a Verdict, so I was more familiar with him than I cared to be. Witherington wrote an essay on the Holy Grail which was ok I guess. The upshot of the essay was that searching for the Holy Grail was a pointless task, with which I agree. I do not agree with Witherington that the Passover sacrifice was substitutionary. This, I think, is a Christian retrojection onto the Hebrew Bible.
Some time ago I became aware of the strange belief of some Mormons that Bigfoot is Cain, who has survived all these millennia as a wanderer of the earth. So I read with some interest the article by Howard W. Goodkind about the ten lost tribes. In it, Goodking mentions that some Mormons connect the tenth century Toltec ruler named Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl to Jesus. Topiltzin was said to have fair skin and a beard which suggested the association.
But by far the most fascinating article for me was the article on the Shroud of Turin by Robert A. Wild. Wild is a Christian, so one cannot accuse him of antichristian bias when he raises many objections to the Shroud being the actual burial cloth of Christ. I thought that over the decades I had heard just about everything there was to hear about the Shroud but I learned a great deal from this article. I could write several paragraphs about what I learned but I think what stood out the most was the blood spatter patterns, which would have smeared if the body had been carried from the cross to the tomb.
Nevertheless, this collection of essays was well worth reading, at least for me. Anati's essay was not the only one disputing the traditional location of Mt. Sinai. Allen Kerkeslager suggests that Jebel al-Lawz, a mountain in Saudi Arabia was Mt. Sinai, was the original Mt. Sinai. I found it interesting that Jubilees 8.19 suggests that Mt. Sinai is in Saudi Arabia.
I wasn’t exactly doing backflips when I saw that Ben Witherington had written an essay for this collection. Witherington is a conservative Christian scholar who was quoted several times in Evidence that Demands a Verdict, so I was more familiar with him than I cared to be. Witherington wrote an essay on the Holy Grail which was ok I guess. The upshot of the essay was that searching for the Holy Grail was a pointless task, with which I agree. I do not agree with Witherington that the Passover sacrifice was substitutionary. This, I think, is a Christian retrojection onto the Hebrew Bible.
Some time ago I became aware of the strange belief of some Mormons that Bigfoot is Cain, who has survived all these millennia as a wanderer of the earth. So I read with some interest the article by Howard W. Goodkind about the ten lost tribes. In it, Goodking mentions that some Mormons connect the tenth century Toltec ruler named Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl to Jesus. Topiltzin was said to have fair skin and a beard which suggested the association.
But by far the most fascinating article for me was the article on the Shroud of Turin by Robert A. Wild. Wild is a Christian, so one cannot accuse him of antichristian bias when he raises many objections to the Shroud being the actual burial cloth of Christ. I thought that over the decades I had heard just about everything there was to hear about the Shroud but I learned a great deal from this article. I could write several paragraphs about what I learned but I think what stood out the most was the blood spatter patterns, which would have smeared if the body had been carried from the cross to the tomb.
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