Water Shall Flow From The Rock

Many times when the author saw the bedouins of southern Sinai excavate their wells in the crystalline rocks, from which this part of the peninsula is built, the story of Moses striking the rock to get water came to mind. The reader will, indeed, find in this book the description for a rather simple method by which to strike the rock to get water in the wilderness of Sinai. Yet this method was not invented by the author nor by any other modem hydrogeologist, but was a method that the author learned from the bedouins living in the crystalline mountains of southern Sinai. These bedouins, belonging to the tribe of the Gebelia (the "mountain people"), live around the monastery of Santa Katerina and, according to their tradition, which has been conftrmed by historical research, were once Christians who were brought by the Byzantine emperor, Justinian, from the Balkans in the 6th century A. D. to be servants to the priests of the monastery. They know how to discern places where veins of calcite fIlled the fractures of the granites; such places are a sign of an extinct spring. They also know how to distinguish an acid hard granite rock, and hard porphyry dike from a soft diabase dike. The latter indicated the location at which they should dig for water into the subsurface. In Chapter 9, the reader will ftnd a detailed description of how they used this knowledge to extract water from the rock.

This book presents an update and revision of the book Water Shall Flow from the Rock - Hydrogeology and Climate in the Lands of the Bible by A. Issar, published by Springer-Verlag in 1990. The enormous quantity and quality of new data added since 1990 called for a thorough update. Another reason for this work is the better understanding achieved since the initial book was published about the role which climate plays in shaping the history of the Lands of the Bible. Albeit the fact that the impact of climate change was touched upon rather widely in the first book, still, without interweaving the new data and understanding, the picture would have remained partial.

This study examines John's portrayal of Jesus as the fulfillment and replacement of the Temple. It also shows how a traditional conception of typology can be helpful for understanding the nature of the relationship between Jesus and the Temple. Interpreters often associate John 1:14, 1:51, 2:18-22, and 4:20-24 with Jesus' replacement of the Temple. Based on these texts, one can already begin to see that he fulfills and replaces the Temple in that he is the new locus of God's presence, glory, revelation, and abundant provision for his people. In particular, John 2:18-22 clearly associates Jesus' role as the Temple with his death and resurrection. According to Isaiah, part of God's decisive action on behalf of his people, and for revealing himself to the nations, is the lifting up of the Temple above all other temples. In John, this expectation finds its fulfillment in Jesus. John's language of lifting up and glorification marks Jesus' death, resurrection, and exaltation as climactic events through which God lifts up and glorifies Jesus, the true Temple. Jesus' death, resurrection, and exaltation are also the means by which God provides for his people. Jesus offers his flesh and blood for the life of the world and sends the Spirit to enrich believers with the benefits of his sacrificial death. In doing so, he simultaneously fulfills prophecies and patterns associated with the Passover, Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Dedication, and the Temple.

This work, originally published in 1766, unfolds the spiritual meaning of the Book of Revelation. It shows that by the "Seven Churches in Asia," to whom this prophecy is addressed, are meant the different classes of Christians of the present day; that the Last Judgment is not an event that is to occur at some future time in the natural world, but one that has already taken place in the world of spirits, and that " the New Jerusalem coming down like a bride out of heaven," symbolizes a new dispensation of truth now descending into the minds of men. Incidentally it explains numerous passages from other parts of the Word. Instructive narratives of things seen in the spiritual world are also interspersed between the chapters.

The traditional devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is solidly rooted in Scripture and offers a rich source of spiritual renewal today. The human heart, the biblical symbol for the human will and passion, can become hardened. But God has promised to change our hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. The heart of Jesus, pierced and flowing with living streams of blood and water, is a threshold inviting us into the experience of divine love. Discover how devotion to the Sacred Heart can be revitalized in our day through a spirituality that is biblical, ecumenical, and oriented toward the contemporary world.

Reflecting the wide-ranging research interests of Seán Freyne, the essays in this volume address issues related to the study of Judaism from the Persian period to the Cairo Geniza, and from the development of the Christian movement to the early modern mapping of Galilee.