You see that white "jar lid" looking building in the background? Well inside that little building are some of the Dead Sea Scrolls out on display and I GOT TO SEE THEM! How awesome is that! Also the Aleppo Codex is there too! I didn't know that was its name until today but its the oldest Hebrew recording of the Old Testament that we have (aside from the dead sea scrolls) and the Kings James version is based off of it. My mind was blown. Actually having a perpetually blown mind has been the theme of today. I spent the day in the Israel Museum looking at artifacts that are unfathomably old. It wasn't just the oldness of them that always was so overwhelming though, it was who's they were. I a seal of Hezekiah's, Roman statues that I'd only seen copies of in Turkey, pottery from the neolithic age, idols from all ages, WOVEN FABRIC that is thousands of years old and so much more it hurts my mind to think about. I saw a lot of famous archaeological finds today, things that I've been looking at pictures of for forever and was suddenly stunned to turn around and realize I was looking at it in real life. For instance we've been learning about the relation of the characters in the Bible and their appearance in other historical records and there's this stone that is written in an old Cuneiform style of writing (I believe) that records that David was anointed King! Wow that's a pretty awesome find if you ask me! Archaeological evidence of these individual characters in the Bible is naturally very difficult to come by so when something is found it really impressive. Well I turned around the corner and suddenly was standing in front of this stone and I recognized it because I've been starring at slide show lectures of it since the beginning of my college career. That was a fun experience :D Over and over my mind was blown with what this museum held in its rooms, its a definite must-come-back-with-future-family destination that's for sure!
The whole experience was overwhelming, I had to literally pause and get my bearings again because I was so overloaded with the awesomness of it all. I learned a lot to, it helps a ton to actually see all the things we've been studding so hard to learn. So speaking of studying and overloading the mind, I've been preparing for my Old Testament test due on Tuesday and I don't think I can fit a single thing more in my head tonight. Oh the things we do when we're tired and overloaded but still need to get stuff done. Spending so much time with these awesome students here and seeing them when they're just as tired and determined to study as you are even though we're all wiped out is an experience you don't really get anywhere else. Thank goodness for smart people. The JC students are all pretty sharp and have more than once saved me when I was struggling to understand the pile of rocks I was staring at behind a panel of glass or searching in vain to learn the meaning of a specific term found somewhere in the depths of the Old Testament. I owe a lot of my learning here to my fellow students. This is a good place to be.
...evidence that its possible to study till your brain melts
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