Alright, well in this video, we're going
to take a look at the Biblical context
of ancient art. I think it's important
that when you're studying ancient
Mediterranean art, you realize all of the
connections that can be made to the
Bible. So often when we read the Bible, we
do so with with modern Western eyes. But
if you really want to be able to
properly interpret the Scriptures, you
need to be sensitive to its cultural
framework. And the cool thing about
studying ancient art is that it helps
provide some of the social and
cultural context for the Old and New
Testament. Now I know some people claim
that the Biblical text is like other
ancient religious texts, and they say all
of that is just a bunch of ancient myths.
And you know, it would be a real problem
if none of the people or the places in
the Bible ever existed. But the fact is. over
the last 200 years archaeologists have
uncovered a vast amount of evidence
confirming the existence of all these
people in the Bible. They've also located
the locations of these places of all the
people in the Bible and have been able
to determine and locate all of the major
biblical cities and geographical
features that are described in the Bible.
The archaeologist, William Albright once
stated, "There can be no doubt that
archaeology has confirmed the
substantial historicity of the Old
Testament tradition." So that's important
to keep in mind. So I'm going to be
going through a few works that are
discussed in the text and demonstrate
how they correspond with the Biblical
text and the stories that many of you
are familiar with from the Bible. Alright,
I'm going to start off with the Ziggurat
of Ur. The Ziggurat of Ur is a really
good example of what many scholars think
that the historic Tower of Babel looked
like. I don't know about you, but when I
was little, I used to think the Tower of
Babel looked more like the Tower of Pisa.
But because the Biblical text places the
story in Mesopotamian region and because
the account in Genesis 11 corresponds
with the materials and the
process used when making these ziggurats,
the ziggurat is really the best imagery
to reference in this story. Back then, the
ziggurat was the Mesopotamian temple-- it
was the most sacred space. They
considered it their primary connection
between heaven and earth, so keep that in
mind next time you read through the
Genesis account. As you get further into
the Old Testament, you may start reading
about the Assyrians and that's because
the Assyrians were the major ancient
super power of their day and they were a
constant thorn in Israel's side. Old
Testament prophets like Amos and Hosea
went to warn the people to repent
or else they would be destroyed. And if
you recall, the Assyrians were the ones
who conquered the Northern Kingdom of
Israel back in 722 BC. This is a
sculpture of their protective deity. It's
called a lamassu, and these things were
really intimidating and so were the
Assyrians. In fact, the Assyrians were
known for for sticking decapitated heads
on poles and marching around with these
poles. They would also take the skins off
the bodies of their enemies and spread
them over their tents-- disgusting! And
so you would have definitely seen a
Lamassu if you would have headed into
Assyrian territory. And speaking of which,
do you know what the capital of Assyria
was in ancient times? Nineveh. That's
right, the place where the prophet Jonah
didn't want to go and refused to go
because he didn't want God to extend his
mercy to the Assyrians. And I can't help
but think about Jonah and God's mercy
when I look at this enormous ancient
sculpture. This is another Assyrian work
called the "Lion Hunt" and back then lions
were symbols of the the violence of
nature, and the King had this tradition
where he would stage these large
lion hunts in this big protected
arena
and only the king was allowed to go out
and kill these lions. Seeing this kind of
sculptural freeze of this event, it
really shows how the defeat of the lion
symbolized the king's power and the
authority over nature and over his
people. When I look at this, I can't help
but to think about Daniel who was living
within a hundred years of this sculptural
freeze. And this is important because it
awakens us to the symbolism and the
significance of God closing the mouths
of the lions and allowing Daniel to
emerge without a scratch. I mean, the
power and authority tied to the defeat
of lions it may be the reason why King
Darius worships God immediately after
this event in the story! Speaking of
Daniel, I wanted to flash up another
image from your text. This is the
Ishtar Gate, which would have been one of
the gates leading into this ancient city
of Babylon. Now, the Babylonians defeated
the Assyrians and were another major
superpower of their day. Most of the Old
Testament prophets that you read about
in the Bible were warning Judah that
they would be taken out if they didn't
repent. And so in 587, the Babylonians
invaded Jerusalem and they began this
two-year siege on Jerusalem and utterly
destroyed the temple and just ravished
the whole city. And actually at this
time, the Babylonians decided to deport a
number of the Israelites into Babylon,
thus starting to Babylonian captivity. So
I see this image I think about all the
Israelites that were taken from
Jerusalem and and brought here to the
city of Babylon in their time of
captivity. Several years ago I took a
group of students and parents to Chicago
and one of the museums that we visited
was the Oriental Museum, which has a
fantastic collection of ancient Near
East art. And one of the works that we
saw was a part of this Babylonian wall
that had led up to the Ishtar Gate.
And I'll never forget when I
explained to the group that, "You know,
Daniel and people like Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego would have walked by this work."
You know, some of the people just started
tearing up. And you know, it's incredible
to be able to see works like this in
person and to know that the heroes of
the faith which we respect and have come
to just really look up to---they have
a historical place in archeological
history. And so that's one of the
exciting things about being able to
study these ancient art artifacts. Well,
after the Babylonian and Assyrian
empires, then came the Persian Empire and
they were known for having these huge
banquet halls filled with columns that
were topped with these heads of bulls.
And I remember when one of my students
was taking a picture with this colossal
bullhead, I reminded them that Queen
Esther would have seen something just
like this. In fact, Esther's husband King
Xerxes was a major player in the
Greco-Persian Wars. Speaking of the
Greeks, I wanted to flash up this image
of the Acropolis. And although the
Apostle Paul came to Athens long after
the construction of the Acropolis and
the Parthenon, the sermon he gave on Mars
Hill is right there and you can see how
this hill overlooks the entire Acropolis.
So this is where he found the altar
that was that was dedicated to the
"unknown God" and how he was able to
survey all of the objects that they
worshipped. So, pretty interesting. I
wanted to look lastly at Rome, and of
course, here in Rome there's just a
plethora of sites that pertain to the
Apostle Paul the Apostle Peter and the
early church. And I've got up here an
image of the Colosseum which many claim
to be a place where the early Christians
were martyred because of their faith. Now
when you think about the early
Christians and the persecution that went
on-- it's really horrifying to think
about what they went through
for their faith. I am thinking
particularly about the time of Nero.
During his reign, he was known for for
having Christians being covered in tar
and then they would light them on fire
to light up the streets at night. And
it's crazy to think of what they went
through back then, and I'm not messing
around-- they were so convinced that they
had seen the risen Savior that they were
willing to suffer to go through so much
persecution just for their faith. And
although people think about places like
the Colosseum for for Christian execution,
it was actually places like the Circus
Maximus or the Circus Nero that these
executions took place. In fact, it was at
the Circus Nero where Peter was said to
have been buried and there was actually
a tomb marker therefore for several years
and for a long period of time. And in the 4th
century, the Emperor Constantine decided
to construct the first huge Christian
Church right there at the historic site
of where Peter was supposedly buried
there, at that tomb marker. And so the
church--- as you may know-- was called St.
Peter's and it is its location is what
we now know to be the Vatican City. And
supposedly, the tomb is located directly
underneath and the high altar in a crypt
underground. And I actually spoke to a
Roman priest, who had seen with
own eyes the tomb. So I've never seen it,
and unfortunately, they don't let
tourists go down there. But that's
what I've heard. Alright, well that
provides a little context both into the
artistic works that we've been studying,
as well as the Biblical accounts that you're
familiar with. And hopefully you can see
how studying these ancient works and
their cultural framework-- how that can
really enhance your understanding of
Scriptures and allow you to interpret
Scriptures within the proper context.
Alright, well all for now. Catch you next
time!