The Bible says that Menahem of Israel paid tribute to the Neo-Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III (also called Pul in the Bible), but in which year of his ten-year reign he paid tribute is not specified. The Iran Stele confirms the payment of tribute by Menahem. Other Assyrian documents indicate that…
A reader asked if the Exodus really happened, and, when I assured him it did, he then wondered why Moses is not mentioned in secular Egyptian history. Well, it’s quite possible that Moses is featured in the historical records of the eighteenth dynasty, and that he has been overlooked because…
The Moabite Stone (aka Mesha stele in archaeological circles) refers to “Omri, King of Israel,” saying that Moab was oppressed by Omri and that Mesha won a great victory against his son. Mesha is mentioned in the Bible, “And Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and rendered unto the…
While in college I often went to a nearby park to study on sunny spring days. Not too far from my favorite swing was a sandbox where little children gathered to play. On one afternoon the merriment of the little ones distracted my mind from my physics textbook to the…
When I went to press with my book Sacred Chronology of the Hebrew Kings in 2012, I presented a new chronology for the Hebrew kings that resulted in a reinterpretation of the campaign into Canaan by Shoshenq I in 925 BCE, the campaign depicted in the reliefs on the Bubastite…
Over the years, I have studied dozens of interpretations of Daniel 9:24-25, the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks . To refresh your memory, those verses say: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and…
In my books on prophecy and chronology, I have used selected chronologies from the Seder Olam, the basic text on which all historical understanding of Jewish tradition in the Talmud is based. I do so mainly as a way of cross-checking the biblical chronology. For example, the Seder Olam says…
Why is the Jewish New Year celebrated in modern times in Tishri, the seventh month, not in Nisan, which is specified as the first month in Exodus? There is no mention of a New-Year Day in the Jewish Tanakh (Old Testament). However, in Exodus 12:2, God commanded the Children of…
There is much confusion in Christian circles about the meaning and application of the phrase “times of the Gentiles” as spoken by Jesus and recorded in the Book of Luke. Many modern expositors consider the “times of the Gentiles” to still be underway, despite what Jesus said about its duration,…
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is observed on the 10th day of Tishri on the Hebrew calendar. Jews all over the world will go to their local synagogue on that day for the purpose of achieving atonement. However, the Tanakh says Yom Kippur as celebrated by Jews today will…