DV7

Numbers 27:12-14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain in the Abarim range and see the land I have given the Israelites. After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.”

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Moses+in+the+Abarim&m=text

God is righteous and fearful

Hebrew 3:5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying what would be said in the future. Hebrews 12: 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrew 10:31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Our God is love, but also righteous and dreadful. God is not only fatherly, but also fearful. Even the faithful servant of God—Moses, who suffered a lot during his bringing Israelites out of Egypt, and experienced a lot of great things by the leading of god. Only because he and Aaron disobeyed God’s command in the Desert of Zin, he had no opportunity to enter the Promised Land—Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, he could only go up the mountain in the Abarim and see the land. The land was the aim Moses strived for many years, but he lost the opportunity to enjoy the result. Only because one fault, he had to die with a great regret. Our God is fearful, He is a consuming fire. Just like Hebrew 12:28, we should worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. We should not worship God always with rejoicings, worshiping God with reverence and awe should not be ignored. It’s necessary to make a balance, because most of churches emphasize the goodness of God, but ignore His righteousness and fearfulness. In my opinion, the message of God’s righteous and awe is more important than the message of God’s goodness. If a person doesn’t fear God, his faith in God is not steadfast.

DT 7

Who harden Pharaoh’s heart?

In Exodus 7:3; 9:12; 10:20; 10:27; 11:10; 14:4 The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Did the Lord do this in order to fool Pharaoh and Israelites? I didn’t think so. Because the Lord never do something with a bad motivation, just like Genesis 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being dine, the saving of many lives.” All people through the world are sinners, all the people should go into the Hell after death. This is the righteous. But God show His mercy, so that some people have the opportunity to have eternal life instead of perish. It’s God’s grace. God’s has authority: He could show mercy on someone if He wants, also He would not show mercy on someone if He doesn’t want, such as the Pharaoh. God gives human freedom, He never obliges them, and He gives human chances to select. I don’t think Pharaoh’s heart was hardened by the Lord. Because the Lord doesn’t want to save him, He has the authority. He put the Pharaoh aside no matter what he did. God did not blame the Pharaoh, because He refused to save him from sins. So the Pharaoh was so “free” that his heart was so hard that he almost didn’t fear the Lord. Of course god has the authority and power to change the Pharaoh’s heart, but the Lord is not a tyrant. Although he has the power, he respects the human, he gives them freedom. If God did not inspire a person, he can not obey the Lord, he will be perished.

Thanks God, He chose me, so that I am not the “Pharaoh” with a hard heart, and will perish. It the great grace of God. I should try to obey His order to offer my thanks.

 

Reference: from some books I read in the past time. .

dv6

Numbers 13:27-28 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendents of Anak there.

30-31 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it. But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=The+faith 

The faith of Caleb and Joshua

 

The Promised Land flows with milk and honey, but the people who live there are powerful. The twelve men were sent to explore the land of Canaan; ten of them spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. Only Caleb and Joshua had the confidence to take possession of the land. God’s promise is wonderful and never change, but the Promised Land is not easy to enter. Even God promised us, we can not enter the Promised Land directly. There must be many difficulties we have to surpass before we enter the Promised Land. It is God’s principle that before you enter the Promised Land, you have to fight. Before you get the glory, you have to suffer the cross. During Christians’ life, there must be some difficulties just like Anak, but we should imitate Caleb and Joshua. Our faith is based on God’s promise, we agree with all the words God says even though we can not understand. Our faith is not our own confidence. During our ministry, all the difficulties should be looked with the eyes of Caleb and Joshua. If we walk in God’s plan, there is no difficulty too hard for God. Nowadays, many church leaders could see the difficulties, but they cannot see the powerful God. The faithful leaders are very few, just like Caleb and Joshua in the twelve who was sent to explore Canaan. May God rise more church leaders like Caleb and Joshua.

dt6

Where exactly is the Red Sea that the Israelites crossed on their flight from Egypt?
There has long been debate about the account of the crossing of the sea in Exodus 13-15, including the number of people, the route taken, the date, etc. For some, these details, none of which are clear from Scripture, have become the battleground for arguing about the inerrancy of Scripture and, indeed, about the very nature of Scripture itself. Of course some simply discount the entire account as tribal legend told to justify the worship of a certain deity. However, for those who want to take the Bible seriously as Scripture, such a central biblical account cannot be so easily dismissed as little more than fanciful fiction.
That commitment to the Bible as Scripture for the Church demands a more careful and reasoned approach to understanding the nature of the account and what it says to us as Scripture. Yet, a careful examination of the exodus account raises questions even among those committed to the Bible as Scripture. While there are various issues, one of the points of debate is the geographical location of the exit from the land and the route taken by the liberated slaves (see also Date of the Exodus).
Some want to preserve a very narrowly literal reading of the exodus narrative. So, for example, many adamantly argue that the point of exit from the land was across the Red Sea “as the Bible clearly says” (at least in some translations). This would mean that the Hebrews journeyed far to the south and before turning across the Red Sea into the Sinai peninsula. Some like to point out the great width of the sea as a further proof of the miraculous nature of the escape, since the Red Sea averages about 150 miles wide.
However, even among those who believe in a more literal perspective of the account of the crossing recognize that this is much too far for a large company to traverse in a single night. The miracle emphasized in the biblical account is the parting of the waters, not the speed at which they crossed or the amount of land covered. It is also a problem that the main body of the Red Sea lies much too far to the south to be reached by a large company of people in such a short span of time. So most would want to contend for the northwestern arm of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, which is only about 17 miles wide at its narrowest point. This would mean a more northerly route for the exodus with a later turn to the south into the Sinai. But this still raises questions of logistics for the large company of people portrayed in the biblical account.
However, apart from the matter of the number of people is an even more significant issue. The problem is that the biblical account never refers to the Red Sea by name. In fact, nowhere in the entire Old Testament Hebrew text is the body of water associated with the exodus ever called the “Red Sea.” Instead in the Hebrew text the reference is to the yam suph. The word yam in Hebrew is the ordinary word for “sea,” although in Hebrew it is used for any large body of water whether fresh or salt. The word suph is the word for “reeds” or “rushes,” the word used in Ex. 2:3, 5 to describe where Moses’ basket was placed in the Nile. So, the biblical reference throughout the Old Testament is to the “sea of reeds” (e.g., Num 14:25, Deut 1:40, Josh 4:23, Psa 106:7. etc.).
Now the simple fact is, we do not know exactly what body of water is referenced by yam suph in Scripture, which is the origin of much of the debate. The translation “Red Sea” is simply a traditional translation introduced into English by the King James Version through the second century BC Greek Septuagint and the later Latin Vulgate. It then became a traditional translation of the Hebrew terms. However, many modern translations either translate yam suph as “Sea of Reeds” or use the traditional translation and add a footnote for the Hebrew meaning.
This gives rise to various opinions for the route of the exodus based on landmarks mentioned in the accounts. Historians have not positively identified the cities of Ramses and Pithom mentioned in the Exodus account (1:11), but many locate them in the Nile Delta near an archaeological site identified as the store city of Ramses. The route of the escape is then generally identified, at least in the early stages of the flight from Egypt, to be south from the store city of Ramses in the eastern Nile delta to the Bitter Lakes region. (see -note-)  These are shallow lakes and marshy areas just to the north of the Gulf of Suez. The crossing of the sea would then be across these lakes and marshes, the yam suph where the miracle of deliverance occurred.

Passover

Passover

The Story of Passover

 

 About 3000 years ago the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians under the rule of the Pharaoh Ramses II. According to the Book of Exodus – Moses, a simple Jewish shepherd, was instructed by G-d to go to the pharaoh and demand the freedom of his people

 Moses’ plea of let my people go was ignored. Moses warned the Pharaoh that G-d would send severe punishments to the people of Egypt if the Israelites were not freed. Again the Pharaoh ignored Moses’ request of freedom. In response G-d unleashed a series of 10 terrible plagues on the people of Egypt

1.    Blood

2.    Frogs

3.    Lice (vermin)

4.    Wild Beasts(flies)

5.    Blight (Cattle Disease)

6.    Boils

7.    Hail

8.    Locusts

9.    Darkness

10.   Slaying of the First Born

The holiday’s Pesach, meaning “passing over” or “protection” in Hebrew, is derived from the instructions given to Moses by God . In order to encourage the Pharaoh to free the Israelites, God intended to kill the first-born of both man and beast. To protect themselves, the Israelites were told to mark their dwellings with lamb’s blood so that God could identify and “pass over” their homes

The Pharaoh was unconvinced and refused to free the Jewish slaves

 Until the last plague

 When the Pharaoh finally agreed to freedom, the Israelites left their homes so quickly that there wasn’t even time to bake their breads. So they packed the raw dough to take with them on their journey. As they fled through the desert they would quickly bake the dough in the hot sun into hard crackers called matzohs. Today to commemorate this event, Jews eat matzoh in place of bread. Though the Jews were now free, their liberation was incomplete. The Pharaoh’s army chased them through the desert towards the Red Sea. When the Jews reached the sea they were trapped, since the sea blocked their escape

 It was then that a miracle occurred. The waves of the Red Sea parted and the Israelites were able to cross to the other side. As soon as they all reached the other side the sea closed trapping the Pharaoh’s army as the waves closed upon them.

 Then as the Israelites watched the waters of the Red Sea sweep away the Pharaoh’s army they realized they were finally free

 Passover celebrates this history. The first 2 nights of the 8 day holiday

 

The Passover Seder

Taking place the first 2 nights of the 8 day holiday, the Seder is the most important event in the Passover celebration. Usually gathering the whole family and friends together, the Seder is steeped in long held traditions and customs

 Leading up to the first night of Passover, the home is cleaned and cleared of all yeast foods, called hametz. All hametz is either eaten before Passover begins or “sold” to non-Jewish neighbors and friends

The rules surrounding Passover are strict and many, with only special foods, utensils, and dishware allowed

 Kitchen utensils and dishware normally used in the home are not be used during Passover. Special dishes and utensils for the Passover holiday are taken out of storage, cleaned and used

 Only foods that are “Kosher for Passover” are allowed. No leavened (containing yeast) foods or grains are eaten. In their place matzoh and foods containing matzoh are eaten. This is to commemorate the Israelites who fled quickly into the desert with no time for their breads to rise and were forced to bake the dough into hard crackers in the desert sun. All foods prohibited during Passover must be disposed of the morning of the first night of Passover

With its Passover dishware and silverware, the Seder table is different than the regular dinner table. The centerpiece of which is the Seder plate, a special plate containing the 5 foods  Three pieces of matzoh are placed in a Matzoh Cover (a cloth sleeve or envelope) and placed in the center of the Seder table. Before the meal begins the middle matzoh is removed and broken in half

One half is returned to the Matzoh Cover, the other – the Afikomen – is hidden, to be hunted by the children at the end of the Seder meal. The child who finds the Afikomen wins a special prize. Some homes break the Afikomen in to many pieces assuring that each child present can find a piece and receive a prize

 The Seder plate contains foods

1.    Haroseth

2.    Parsley (dipped in salt water)

3.    Roasted egg

4.    Shank Bone

5.    Bitter herbs

1. Haroseth   A mixture of chopped walnuts, wine, cinnamon and apples that represents the mortar the Jewish slaves used to assemble the Pharaoh’s bricks

2. Parsley (dipped in salt water) Symbolizing Springtime, it is dipped in salt water to remind us of for the tears of the Jewish slaves

3. Roasted egg. Another symbol of Spring

4. Shank Bone Symbolic of the sacrificial lamb offering, the bone can come from whatever the family is eating, such as the leg bone of a roasted turkey

5. Bitter herbs Freshly grated horseradish reflects the bitter affliction of slavery

During the Seder 4 glasses of wine are poured to represent the 4 stages of the exodus

1.    Freedom

2.    Deliverance

3.    Redemption

4.    Release

 A fifth cup of wine is poured and placed on the Seder table. This is the Cup of Elijah, an offering for the Prophet Elijah. During the Seder the door to the home is opened to invite the prophet Elijah in

 After the meal is eaten, the children search for the Afikomen. The Seder is finished when the children have found the Afikomen and everyone has eaten a piece

The Four Questions

It is said that the Seder is celebrated especially for the children. It is important for Jewish children to be and feel involved in the celebration of Passover. Much of the ceremony is based on the commandment in the Bible that says, “And thou shalt tell thy son”

 At the Seder the Haggadah, the Book of Exodus, is read and the history celebrated with its stories, songs and prayers

At the Seder it is the youngest child at the table that answers the 4 questions asked at Passover.

On all other nights we eat all kinds of breads and crackers.

Why do we eat only matzoh on Pesach ?

 Matzoh reminds us that when the Jews left the slavery of Egypt they had no time to bake their bread. They took the raw dough on their journey and baked it in the hot desert sun into hard crackers called matzoh.

 On all other nights we eat many kinds of vegetables and herbs.

Why do we eat bitter herbs, maror, at our Seder?

 Maror reminds us of the bitter and cruel way the Pharaoh treated the Jewish people when they were slaves in Egypt

On all other nights we don’t usually dip one food into another At our Seder we dip the parsley in salt water and the bitter herbs in Charoset

Why do we dip our foods twice tonight?

 We dip bitter herbs into Charoset to remind us how hard the Jewish slaves worked in Egypt. The chopped apples and nuts look like the clay used to make the bricks used in building the Pharaoh’s buildings

 We dip parsley into salt water. The parsley reminds us that spring is here and new life will grow. The salt water reminds us of the tears of the Jewish slaves

On all other nights we eat sitting up straight

Why do we lean on a pillow tonight?

 We lean on a pillow to be comfortable and to remind us that once we were slaves, but now we are free

 The Haggadah itself stresses the importance of the Seder as “a spectacle meant to excite the interest and the curiosity of the children.” Everything in the Seder is meant to make the children curious and to ask questions

 Several new Passover seder rituals are being adopted by Jewish familes to honor the role of Miriam, Moses’s sister and the Prophetess in the Exodus, and to highlight the contributions of women to Jewish culture, both past and present.

 A second cup, called Miriam’s Cup, is being added to the Passover dinner table along with Elijah’s Cup. Miriam’s Cup is filled with water and symbolizes the miracle of Miriam’s well, which sustained the Israelites during their long journey in the desert

When is the First Night of Passover?

 

 

First Night of Passover for the Years 2006 – 2016

April 12, 2006*

April 02, 2007*

April 19, 2008*

April 08, 2009*

March 29, 2010*

April 18, 2011*

April 06, 2012*

March 25, 2013*

April 14, 2014*

April 03, 2015*

April 22, 2016*

* Holiday begins at Sundown

In Israel, Passover is a 7-day holiday, with the first and last days celebrated as a full festival (involving abstention from work, special prayer services and holiday meals). In the Jewish diaspora outside Israel, the holiday is traditionally celebrated for 8 days (although Reform Jews celebrate for 7 days), with the first two days and last two days celebrated as full festivals. The intervening days are known as Chol HaMoed (“festival weekdays”).

The primary symbol of Passover is the matzo, a flat, unleavened “bread” which recalls the hurriedly-baked bread that the Israelites ate after their hasty departure from Egypt. According to Halakha, matzo may be made from flour derived from five types of grain: wheat, barley, spelt, oats, rye. The dough for matzo is made when flour is added to water only, which has not been allowed to rise for more than 18–22 minutes prior to baking.

Many Jews observe the positive Torah commandment of eating matzo on the first night of Passover at the Passover Seder, as well as the Torah prohibition against eating or owning Chametz which includes any leavened products — such as bread, cake, cookies, beer, whiskey or pasta (or anything made from raw dough that had been left alone for more than 18 minutes, as it then begins to ferment) — for the duration of the holiday

On the morning before Passover, the fast of the firstborn takes place. This fast commemorates the salvation of the Israelite firstborns during the Plague of the Firstborn (according to the Book of Exodus, the tenth of ten plagues wrought upon ancient Egypt prior to the Exodus of the Children of Israel), when, according to Exodus (12:29): “…God struck every firstborn in the Land of Mitzrayim (ancient Egypt)….” In practice, however, most firstborns only fast until the end of the morning prayer service in synagogue. This is due to the widespread custom for a member of the congregation to conduct a siyum (ceremony marking the completion of a section of Torah learning) right after services and invite everyone to partake in a celebratory meal. According to widespread custom, partaking of this meal removes one’s obligation to fast

Holiday observances

In the Land of Israel the holiday lasts seven days and the first and last days are major holidays in which, in Orthodox and Conservative Judaism, no work is performed and most of the observances of Shabbat are adhered to. The Seder is conducted on the first day.

Outside the Land of Israel, in Orthodox and Conservative Judaism, the holiday lasts eight days, and the first two days and last two days are major holidays. A Seder is conducted twice, on both the first and second days.

In the intermediate days work can be performed.

 materials used form http://www.holidays.net/passover/blog.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

luke DT 5

Who is the new king of Exodus 1:8 who came to power in Egypt and who doesn’t know Joseph?

Genesis 46:27 With the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventy in all. Exodus 1:7 but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so the land was filled with them. Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. From seventy people to “the land was filled with them need many years. So the new king began to oppress the Israelites many years after Jacob’s family settled in Egypt, According to the Exodus chapter 1&2, the Israelites should be oppressed even before Moses was born. Since Jacob’s family went to Egypt around 1800 BC, and Moses brought Israelites out of Egypt around 1250 BC, so the new king oppressed Israelites should came to power in Egypt during the period around from 1600 BC to 1100 BC.

The New Kingdom Period

Time period : c. 1540 BC – c. 1070 BC
Dynasties : 18th Dynasty – 20th Dynasty

Ahmose was a pharaoh who ruled ancient Egypt from 1550 B.C. to 1525 B.C

Hatshepsut was a pharaoh who ruled ancient Egypt from 1473 B.C. to 1458 B.C.

Akhenaten was a pharaoh who ruled ancient Egypt from 1352 B.C. to 1336 B.C..

Tutankhamun was a pharaoh who ruled ancient Egypt for only nine years (1336 B.C. to 1327 B.C.).

Ramesses II was a pharaoh who ruled ancient Egypt for 66 years from 1279 B.C. to 1213 B.C.

According to these materials, the new king should be one of the kings above, but I cannot decide who is the one. Maybe Ramesses II  is the new king, he was the best answer.

Reference: Kings and Queens of Egypt

luke Dv 5

Exodus 32: 9-10 “I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” 32:14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Moses+in+Egypt&page=2

 

Moses, a great leader

 

Moses suffered a lot of difficulties during his bringing Israelites out of Egypt, but the people always grumbled against Moses; sometimes they were almost ready to stone Moses. When the people made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf, the LORD told Moses He might destroy the people and would make Moses into a great nation. It was natural that Moses would agree with the Lord, but in the contrary, Moses sought the favor of the Lord. What a great leader Moses was! He was a broad-minded leader. The Israelites always grumbled against Moses although he did many things for their benefits, if I was Moses, maybe I would pray that the people would be destroyed by the LORD. But Moses’ heart was so great that he interceded for the Israelites. The LORD tested Moses’ breadth of mind. I don’t think the LORD will change His will because human’s words, His will never change. The LORD is omniscient; He didn’t need to test Moses to know his response, He knew Moses’ thought. I believe that the reason the LORD did this is to set an example of good leader for us. He did this not for His knowing Moses’ mind, but for our benefits: to show us, especially the leaders of the church, what kind of heart a good leader should have. If all the church leaders have the hearts like Moses’, our churches will have a much better progress. Thanks the LORD, the Bible is so great that we can get enlightenment from it forever.

dq4

Who are the ‘Apiru/Habiru and why are they significant?

 Habiru (Ha biru) or Apiru (‘ piru) ibrw (Egyptian ibr = horsemen w = plural) was the name given by various Sumerian, Egyptian, Akkadian, Hittite, Mitanni, and Ugaritic sources (dated, roughly, from before 2000 BC to around 1200 BC) to a group of people living as MARTU or nomadic invaders in areas of the Fertile Crescent from Northeastern Mesopotamia and Iran to the borders of Egypt in Canaan Depending on the source and epoch, these Habiru are variously described as nomadic or semi-nomadic, rebellious, outlaws, raiders, mercenaries, agricultural workers, horse mounted messengers and bowmen, servants, slaves, migrant laborers,etc. one of the first recorded mentions of the haibru in the context of an army that messengers rushed to fetch to the battle in a period when the Mitanni fit this description well. The English forms of the root (ibr) as Habiru or Apiru refer to Egyptian and Akkadian cuneiform cognates. In Mesopotamian records they are also identified by the Sumerian logogram SA.GAZ. In the Egyptian inscriptions of the Battle of Kadesh the ibr w are portrayed as messengers mounted on horses. The 1904 Breasted Expedition to Egypt photographed inscriptions which included the name ibrw. The name Habiru was also found in(the Amarna letters, which again include many names of Canaanite peoples written in Akkadian. The Amarna letters written to Egyptian pharaohs in the 14th century BCE) document a time of unrest in Canaan that goes back before the battle of Kadesh to the time of Thutmoses I.

During the era of Patriarchs, maybe Abraham and his descendants are Habiru. Abram and his father Terah set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan, But when they came to Haran, they settled there(Genesis 11:31). In Haran Abram was called by God, and he went to Canaan with Sarai, Lot, the possessions and the people they had acquired in Haran.They had herds and flocks and tents, and their possessions were so great.(Genesis13:5-6) obviously, Abram was nomadic , and because he lived around 2000 BC,So Abram could be called Habiru or Apiru. Genesis 26:12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundreadfold, Certainly he would inherit many herds and flocks from Abraham, so Isacc should be semi-nomadic and agricultural,he could be called Habiru or Apiru, and Jacob tended flocks for Laban for many years, so Jacob should be nomadic, he could be called Habiru or Apiru. So Abraham and his descendents: Isaac, Jocob could be called Habiru or Apiru, and from archaeological findings we can find something important about Habiru or Apiru, we can know about the Patriarchs in the Bible from other resources, from different aspects we can realize the greatness of the Bible, and the information from the Old Testament are strict. In my opinion, this is the reason of the Habiru/Apiru significance.           

 

Reference:

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habiru 

luke Devotion 4

Exodus 12:37-38 The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot [that were] men, beside children. 38And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, [even] very much cattle.

Title: How great Moses was!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hikaliwu/970650579/

The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. Many other people went up with them, as well as large droves of livestock.
Bringing the Israelites out of Egypt is so difficult that I cannot imagine, the amount of the Israelites should be more than 2000000. If including many other people the amount will be more. How Moses managed so many people more than 3000 years ago? He didn’t have modern tools such as phone call, microphone, and telegram for communication, and the Israelites always grumbled against Moses. I think Moses suffered a lot during his life of leading Israelites, so many difficulties had to be settled everyday, such as the methods to get food, drinking water, tents, medicine, clothes in the wilderness. Can you imagine the quantity of food and drinking water 2000000 people will consume a day? Can you imagine 2000000 people always grumble against you even you exhaust yourself for them everyday? I think Moses is the greatest leader during the human history. And I think without God’s blessings, Moses couldn’t complete the marvelous mission. It is a miracle to bring so many people out of Egypt.

Not all the people being brought out of Egypt were God’s people, some of them were “other people”, although they went along with the Israelites, experienced God’s grace, had opportunity to watch miracles, to listen to the word from God through Moses, but they had no faith in God, they were not God’s people, but “other people”. How regretful it was! They had the opportunity, but they missed it, just like Hebrew 6:4-6(NIV) It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

Dq 3

The new plan of the Bornais mounds showing the location of the 1999 excavations (filled) in relation to previous years excavations (outline).
The remains of the early structure exposed by the excavations on mound 1. The dense stiple indicates the floor layer and all the stones found at this level are marked in black. The carbonised timbers found in the destruction layer overlying the early structure. Two parallelopiped bone dice from the Late Iron Age activity on mound 1. The better preserved example was found in the destruction layer above the early structure.A detailed plan of the hearth in the later structure showing the arrangement of bones around the sides and east end. All the bones are from cattle except the tibia which was from a sheep. View to the East across the Late Iron Age house floor on Mound 1. Close up view of the hearth in the Late Iron Age structure on Mound 1. A large Late Iron Age vessel found in the destruction layers above the early house floor. View to the South West of Mound 1 during excavation. The remains of the very large Norse hall exposed by the excavation of mound 2. The walls curving across the centre of the house represent a later structure built into the house sometime after its initial use. View to the North East across the centre of the Viking hall house on Mound 2. View to the West across the Viking hall house on Mound 2. An elaborately decorated antler tine from the secondary occupation of the large Norse hall. Three pots and the rim of a steatite vessel. The pots came from the secondary occupation of the large Norse hall. Pots one and two are typical locally produced Hebridean forms but vessel four is an import from south west England. Scale 1:2. View to the North West of the Late Norse structure on Mound 2A. The badly preserved remains of the house on mound 2A. View to the West of the Late Norse structure on Mound 3 during excavation. The 1999 excavation was successful in answering almost all the objectives set. Work on mound 1 and 3 has reached a point where further work is no longer necessary to understand what has been excavated, though new work in both areas would produce important results. The excavation of mound 2A successfully exposed and excavated the structure predicted by the geophysical survey. It was shown to be constructed on an important deposit of iron working debris and these deposits and the surrounding middens are still under threat. On mound 2 we were not successful in exposing the complete plan of the large house. However, it has been demonstrated that this is an important structure with a very important secondary occupation, and a large quantity of material was recovered from the infill. We now have a detailed understanding of the distribution of settlement across the three mounds and together with the data from the geophysical survey, we can begin to talk about the spatial organisation of the settlement. Detailed spatial analysis of several house floors has now been undertaken and provisional work on these floors already suggests our understanding of the activities undertaken within the house will be enhanced. A large quantity of artefactual and ecofactual material has now been recovered from all the trenches and we can now begin to talk with confidence about the economy of the site in the three main periods outlined in the aims and objectives.