July 19, 2025

Would you have known that purple is the second favorite color of women worldwide and the third favorite color of men? If you graduated with a degree in law, dentistry or architecture you turned the page on your college days wearing a purple tassel, and if you attended LSU, Northwestern, TCU or Kansas State, your blood will always bleed purple. But if you lived in the land of Israel during Bible days, long before the modern production of synthetic colors, you probably wore only brown, black and white clothing, for these natural colors were readily available from one’s flocks and herds. Only kings, high priests and the rich wore purple. No one else could afford it, for the production of purple dye required the meticulous, time-consuming harvesting of a particular type of mollusk that lived on the Mediterranean shoreline of Israel, which secreted a purple mucous that business owners like Lydia in Acts 16:14 used to dye fibers and fleeces for a wealthy clientele. Historians have confirmed that the price of purple dye exceeded even that of gold.

Archaeologists have discovered surviving samples of clothing dyed with purple in the dry climate of the Timna Valley in Israel and now evidence of the ancient production of purple dye at a recently excavated factory at Tel Shiqmona just south of Haifa along the Carmel Coast. Although no purple material survived the humid conditions of Tel Shiqmona, archaeologists nevertheless uncovered evidence of an industrial factory at the site that dates to 1100 B.C. Finds at the factory include numerous workshops as well as fragments of purple-stained ceramic vats, stone tools, specialized vessels and large dying tanks that measure 2½ by 3 feet, roughly the size of a large bathtub, where workers once dyed robes, belts, curtains and anything that the customer requested.

Nothing on this large scale has been discovered previously, but this particular factory appears to have been in continuous use during Israel’s entire kingdom history, beginning shortly before King Saul who began his reign around 1050 B.C. until the destruction of Judah in 586 B.C. The veil of the temple that Solomon commissioned for the construction of the First Temple could very well have been produced at Tel Shiqmona (2 Chron. 2:14). Solomon aptly romanticizes his love for the Shulamite woman using the language of purple, “Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, and the hair of your head is like purple; a king is held captive by your tresses” (Song of Solomon 7:5). What a remarkable discovery!

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Trivia

According to Jewish law, when does human life begin?

(Answer to Trivia below)

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Jesus by the Lake (Luke 7:1-10), Bible Challenge

1. From whom might the centurion have learned about Jesus?

The elders, his servant, Matthew, a soldier, the nobleman from Capernaum whose son was sick and whom Jesus healed from a distance (cf. John 4:46)

2. Where did the centurion live?

Perhaps Capernaum, though unlikely since it was a Jewish fishing town

Perhaps nearby Tiberias, the new capital of the region

Perhaps north of Capernaum, near the tax-collecting border of Galilee and Perea

3. What synagogue did he build?

If the Capernaum synagogue, then we can still see the first-century foundation of it to this day

4. What’s meant by, “I also am a man placed under authority … and I say to one, ‘Go’”?

5. Notice that the Jews marvel at his kindness and generosity, calling him deserving, but Jesus marvels at his great faith and humility (“I am not worthy,” v. 7).

6. Note that a powerful Roman centurion didn’t consider himself worthy to invite a poor, Jewish rabbi and conquered subject of Rome into his home.

7. Note that he didn’t doubt that Jesus could heal his servant, “But say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

8. How might the crowd in v. 9 have taken Jesus’ comment, “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.”

Marveled too, felt ashamed at their own unbelief, confused that Jesus would praise so highly a lowly Gentile, anger that they were being disparaged

Daniel McCabe

Bible Quiz: Old or New Testament?

Where do each of these verses first originate in the Bible (NKJV)—Old Testament or New Testament?

Score yourself. One point for getting the correct testament and one point for getting the correct book. So, for example, if you knew that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” was from the Old Testament (then 1 point) and from the book of Genesis (then 1 more point for a total of 2). Therefore, your maximum score on the quiz can be 20 points. Got it? It’s not easy, but let me know how you did in the comments section below.

1. “A friend loves at all times.”

2. “Be brave, be strong.”

3. “Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned.”

4. “Evil company corrupts good habits.”

5. “He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

6. “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”

7. “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

8. “This is My commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.”

9. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.”

10. “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

Answer Key:

1. Old, Prov. 17:17; 2. New, 1 Cor. 16:13; 3. New, James 5:9; 4. New, 1 Cor. 15:33; 5. Old, Deut. 31:8; 6. New, Rev. 4:8; 7. Old, 1 Sam. 16:7; 8. New, John 15:12; 9. Old, Deut. 6:5; 10. Old, Deut. 6:16.

Scripture Study: The Hall of Faith, part 5

Hebrews 11:20 continues, “By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff,” meaning that he was about ready to physically die. “By faith Joseph,” and I love this example here in v. 22, “at the end of his life made mention of the exodus of the Israelites,” which we know would happen several hundred years later, “and he gave directions concerning his bones.” He ordered the people of Israel, his descendants, “Take my bones up out of here. Don’t leave me in Egypt. When God brings us out of Egypt and brings us into the land of promise, bring my bones up with you,” and he ended up being buried in Shechem.

So those are the first twenty-two verses of the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, and I think we can appreciate at least two aspects of faith here. One, in their specific examples, all of these heroes of Scripture did trust in the promises that God gave to them that would come about in their own lives. With Noah it was the flood. With Sarah it was Isaac. With Jacob or with Abraham it was, “Go to this specific land.” And so God was working out these things in their own time and they all trusted in that. They were people who consistently trusted in God, which pleased Him. But even more so, they were people who looked forward to something that did not come about in their own lifetimes, and that is a greater reality which the author of Hebrews is reminding his own readers, charging them, and calling them to trust in Christ as the Messiah, as King, and as the Guarantor of the New Covenant who could bring about all of these things that were promised way back when to the heroes of Scripture and even to his own generation.

Adam Keim

Archaeology: The Church around the Corner

August 18, 2022

Alexander Nevsky was a 13th century, Russian, warrior-prince, known for his victories against Swedish and German invaders, so what’s his name doing on a church? In 1857 the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society purchased a small tract of land inside Jerusalem’s Old City adjacent to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. They intended to build a hostel and a consulate to serve Russian pilgrims to Jerusalem and so named the complex after Nevsky, but then prior to construction in 1883 they discovered the remains of an ancient wall and gate. In response they built their planned complex outside the city walls, known even today as the Russian Compound, and erected the Alexander Nevsky Church on the original site.

Due to the present, global, political climate the Israeli government has delayed its agreement from 2020 to transfer the site’s ownership to the Russian Federation. This past April Russian president, Vladimir Putin, demanded that Israel honor its agreement immediately, but the matter is now bogged down in the court system, so for now Putin can only fume and wait.

In any event I mentioned a wall and a gate that many believe to be a city wall from the first century and the gate through which Jesus exited the city on his way to Golgotha. Unfortunately, the gate and wall are likely from the eleventh century, but they were possibly built at the same location as an earlier triple-arched gate that was erected by Roman Emperor Hadrian in approximately 135 A.D.

There are other intriguing remains inside the church, including walls, flagstones, pavement and columns, some that also date to the time of Hadrian, including a wall that surrounded his temple complex. Most tour groups don’t visit the church around the corner. But I think it’s worth a visit if for nothing more than to view the spectacular paintings of the life of Christ high on the walls inside the chapel.

Daniel McCabe

Answer to the Trivia

C. At birth