Bits and Bites from around the World > God's Name written 3000 years ago; Ram get 3 years in prison for killing old woman

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3,000-Year-Old Tablet with God's Name Affirms Biblical Timeline,

Archaeologist Says

Michael Foust | 

ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor | 

Friday, March 25, 2022

inscribed tablet, archaeologists find inscribed tablet

ChristianHeadlines.com

A new discovery from Israel involving an ancient tablet could be one of the most significant archaeological finds in modern history, not only affirming the biblical text but supporting a traditional, conservative understanding of the Old Testament timeline.

The discovery, announced Thursday by Scott Stripling of the Archaeological Studies Institute at The Bible Seminary in Katy, Texas, involves a folded lead tablet about two centimeters by (2?) centimeters in size with 40 letters of Hebrew inscription that apparently references events mentioned in Deuteronomy 27:15-26 and Joshua 8:30 at Mt. Ebel. There, the Israelites learn they will be cursed if they disobey God.

The tablet – which mentions God's name twice – was discovered at the site of Mt. Ebel. More significantly, though, the lead tablet's text is "centuries older than any known Hebrew inscription from ancient Israel," Stripling's organization says.

A lab in Prague scanned the tablet. The text reads, "Cursed, cursed, cursed – cursed by the God YHW. You will die cursed. Cursed you will surely die. Cursed by YHW – cursed, cursed, cursed."

Stripling said at a press conference of the discovery, "On a scale of one to 10, this is a 10. It doesn't get any bigger than this. … If the [biblical] text were true, this is what you would anticipate finding. And indeed, it is what we found."

Stripling said the tablet dates to the late Bronze period, which ran from 3300 B.C. to 1200 B.C. That means it would be roughly 3,000 years old.

Secular critics of a traditional dating of the Old Testament often have placed the time of the Exodus from Egypt and the conquest of Canaan at a much later date – and thus calling into question the truthfulness of Scripture.

These critics argue that the Pentateuch could not have been written by Moses – as claimed by the Bible – because the Hebrew alphabet did not exist when he was alive. The tablet's text, though, would seem to support a Moses authorship.

The discovery, Stripling said, affirms the biblical text.

"One can no longer argue with a straight face that the biblical text was not written" until the Persian period (559 B.C.. to 331 B.C.) or the Hellenistic period (323 B.C to 30 B.C. "as many higher critics have done when here we do clearly have the ability to write the entire text at a much, much earlier date. This tips the scale in favor of an earlier date and does not help the arguments of those who favor a later date."

A peer-reviewed paper on the tablet will be released in the coming months, Stripling said.

Gershon Galil of Haifa University said the discovery's significance could not be overstated. "This is a text you find only every 1,000 years," Galil told The Times of Israel.

The newspaper said it "may be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever."

"It would be the first attested use of the name of God in the Land of Israel and would set the clock back on proven Israelite literacy by several centuries – showing that the Israelites were literate when they entered the Holy Land, and therefore could have written the Bible as some of the events it documents took place," the newspaper said.

Photo courtesy: ©Associates for Biblical Research/Michael Luddeni, used with permission.

Sheep sentenced to three years in jail for killing old woman in South Sudan

The ram attacked the woman, butted her on the chest several times before she died

Published:  May 21, 2022 14:23

Tawfiq Nasrallah, Senior News Editor, Gulf News

 

The 'guilty' ram that killed an old woman in South Sudan.

Image Credit: Social media

Dubai: A ram has been sentenced to three years in jail for allegedly attacking and head-butting an old woman to death in South Sudan, local media reported.

The ram owner also has been asked to give five cows for the family of the victim towards compensation, a local court in Rumbek city, South Sudan, has ruled.

According to Sudan Today newspaper, Rumbek police in the Lakes state of South Sudan took custody of the ram after it killed the woman last weekend. The ram has reportedly attacked the woman and butted her on the chest several times, before she died.

Under the customary laws of the Lakes State, any pet that kills a person is awarded as compensation to the family of the deceased.

Millions at Risk as Famine Grips Parts of South Sudan

Otherwise fertile country disrupted by prolonged civil war,

economic crisis

The Associated Press 

A mother holds her child in a hospital ward in Juba, South Sudan, on Jan. 24. Roughly 5.5 million people in South Sudan are expected to be severely food insecure and at risk of death in the coming months. (Siegfried Modola/Reuters)

​Famine has been declared in two counties of South Sudan, according to an announcement by the South Sudan government and three UN agencies, which says the calamity is the result of prolonged civil war and an entrenched economic crisis that has devastated the war-torn East African nation.

The official classification of famine highlights the human suffering caused by South Sudan's three-year civil war and even as it is declared President Salva Kiir's government is blocking food aid to some areas, according to UN officials.

More than 100,000 people in two counties of Unity state are experiencing famine and there are fears that the famine will spread as an additional one million South Sudanese are on the brink of starvation, said the announcement.

"Our worst fears have been realized," said Serge Tissot, head of the Food and Agriculture Organization in South Sudan. He said the war has disrupted the otherwise fertile country, causing civilians to rely on "whatever plants they can find and fish they can catch."

Roughly 5.5 million people, or about 50 per cent of South Sudan's population, are expected to be severely food insecure and at risk of death in the coming months, said the report. It added that nearly three-quarters of all households in the country suffer from inadequate food.

If food aid does not reach children urgently "many of them will die," said Jeremy Hopkins, head of the UN children's agency in South Sudan. Over 250,000 children are severely malnourished Hopkins said, meaning they are at risk of death.

A UN peacekeeper from Ethiopia patrols a disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan on Dec. 14, 2016. When South Sudan fought for independence in 1998, the territory suffered from a famine spurred by civil war. (Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP/Getty Images)

Drastic decline

It is not the first time South Sudan has experienced starvation. When it fought for independence from Sudan in 1998, the territory suffered from a famine spurred by civil war. Anywhere from 70,000 to several hundred thousand people died during that famine. But Monday's declaration of starvation is solely South Sudan's creation, and a UN official blamed the country's politicians for the humanitarian crisis.

"This famine is man-made,"said Joyce Luma, head of the World Food Program in South Sudan. "There is only so much that humanitarian assistance can achieve in the absence of meaningful peace and security."

Perhaps nowhere else has civil war caused such a drastic decline in South Sudan's food security than in Central Equatoria state, according to the report. Traditionally South Sudan's breadbasket, Central Equatoria has been hit by fighting and ethnically targeted killings that began in July 2016 and have displaced over half a million residents and disrupted agricultural production. As a result, more than a third of Central Equatoria's population is now facing crisis or emergency levels of hunger, according to the report.

A United Nations plane releases sacks of food during an airdrop close on Feb. 18. Tens of thousands of people have died since civil war broke out in 2013, and the UN warns that South Sudan is at risk of genocide. (Siegfried Modola/Reuters)

Fertile land

South Sudan's widespread hunger has been compounded by an economic crisis as well. South Sudan is experiencing severe inflation and the value of its currency has plummeted 800 per cent in the past year, which has made food unaffordable for many families. When The Associated Press visited the western town of Aweil in September, the price of food had risen ten-fold in the previous 12 months.

Although it is not as significant as the effects of war and inflation, some of South Sudan's hunger crisis is the direct result of the government's action. South Sudanese government officials have blocked or placed constraints on the delivery of food aid to areas of the country, according to a UN official who insisted on anonymity because of lack of authorization to speak to the media. On Monday, the UN agencies said that unimpeded humanitarian access "is urgently needed."

Tens of thousands of people have died since civil war broke out in December 2013, and the UN warns that South Sudan is at risk of genocide. Since fighting in the capital of Juba killed hundreds of people in July, the war has uprooted more than three million people.

South Sudan - a fertile land

UN officials have contested that hunger in South Sudan is even more shocking because of the country's fertile land conditions. During her farewell briefing in November as head of the UN mission, Ellen Loj said that South Sudan has the resources and climate to feed itself.

"When I am flying up country I am always surprised to see all that fertile land and there is not anything," Loj said. "You could feed yourself plenty and I hope peace will come to South Sudan." 

Many South Sudan Boys 'Kidnapped to be Child Soldiers'

Child soldiers prepare to lay down their arms at a ceremony in South Sudan
The UN believes 12,000 children were used as child soldiers across
South Sudan last year

Hundreds of boys in South Sudan have been kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers, the United Nations children's agency says.

The figure is a big increase on the 89 child abductions reported by Unicef last month.

Their latest statement blamed a militia group allied to the government.

South Sudan is in a state of civil war with forces loyal to President Salva Kiir pitted against rebels led by former Vice-President Riek Machar.

The campaign group Human Rights Watch has accused both sides of using child soldiers.

Unicef said the boys were abducted by the Shilluk Militia, under the control of Johnson Oloni. The government has previously said it has no control over the group.

"We fear [the children] are going from the classroom to the front line," said Unicef's representative in South Sudan, Jonathan Veitch.

Witnesses report seeing children as young as 12 carrying guns, according to the UN.

The seizure of the boys happened in an area known as Wau Shilluk, in oil-rich Upper Nile state.

The UN believes 12,000 children were used as child soldiers across South Sudan last year.

About 1.5 million people have been displaced by the fighting in the country and 2.5 million are facing severe food shortages.