En-Gedi Resource Center

07/28/2025

I did an interview for WOODTV8 last week where I talk about the unusual story about how I got started writing about the Bible in context and the project I'm currently working on. Check it out! :-)

https://www.woodtv.com/news/news-8-digital-series/lets-get-literary-a-biblical-scholar-a-romance-bookstore-and-a-lighthouse-story-time/

07/21/2025

Did archeologists find a new psalm to add to the Bible?

This psalm was found in Cave 11 of Qumran as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is not in our Bible, but is part of what is called "Psalm 151."

07/14/2025

What spiritual lessons can we learn from the topography of Israel?

Over the history of Israel, there have been few flat places - it seems the nation was either ascending or descending spiritually, like the land's terrain.

07/07/2025

At the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, you can see the fulfillment of Jesus’ words frozen in stone yet today, believe it or not.

Jesus shares with the Jewish people a great mourning for Jerusalem and the Temple, as he prophesies their destruction in Luke 19.

06/30/2025

What makes the water in Israel superior to the water in Egypt? Hint: it doesn’t have to do with pH or alkalinity.

In Egypt the crops were irrigated by the labor of hand-watering, while in Canaan the land was entirely watered by rain: "geshem" in Hebrew.

06/23/2025

“Consider the ravens…” said Jesus. As we contemplate this bird’s shadowy silhouette against the desert sky, what are the implications for our lives?

How great an assurance that God cares for even the ravens, in barren desert and drought. How can we worry when we have a God who cares as much for us?

06/16/2025

The Danites serve as a reminder of the danger of trying to manipulate God to do our bidding.

Throughout the biblical story, the city of Dan has been prone to idolatry, like when Jereboam built a shrine with two golden calves to worship there.

06/09/2025

The truth of God’s Word continues to be validated through archeology, so study it with confidence!
https://engediresourcecenter.com/2019/09/12/encouraging-evidence/

06/04/2025

What connection does the narrow and wide roads Jesus mentioned in Matthew 7 have to Rome?

Jesus may of been comparing the imposing Roman cities with wide gates and roads, to the narrow old paths of humble Jewish villages.

05/28/2025

Out of reverence for the holiness of Scripture, Jews do not just throw away worn out Bibles, but carefully store them until they can be respectfully buried. Their extreme care might sound excessive, but these practices have led to multiple important discoveries of ancient manuscripts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls.

All Jewish Torah scrolls and other scriptures are buried and not thrown away with other waste, even if they are very warn out and need to be replaced.

05/19/2025

The early church did not base its practices on the Jerusalem Temple but on the synagogue instead. But the synagogue was a somewhat new gathering practice where laypeople prayed and studied the Bible without priests involved. What are the implications?

Church comes from the weekly synagogue meetings that were in practice in Jesus' day. In both places, all can grow in faith and knowledge of God's word.

05/12/2025

Believe it or not, the prophecy in Isaiah 2 has come true in just the past 50 years. When my Hebrew class in Jerusalem read it together, we were awestruck by the fact that Isaiah’s words were being fulfilled right before our eyes.

Gentiles have been enabled to come from the ends of the earth to the mountain of the Lord. We now are the fulfillment of his words in Isaiah 2 long ago.