The British Museum Tour

I LOVE MUSEUMS!!  Seems like everyone had the same idea we had: let's go to the world famous British museum. And while the streets of London already felt like NYC on New Year's Eve, it was nothing compared to the inside of the museum. The crowd surfing was only exacerbated by the fact that the museum was also very HOT. Fans placed sporadically throughout the galleries tried their best to provide some relief with little success. 

It's a good thing we were being guiding to strategic exhibits because I'm sure our interest would have waned quickly otherwise. And we would have missed out on these spiritual gems from the Bible Treasures tour: Jehovah is a God of true prophecy.

Egypt

Early archaeologists thought the Egyptian language was a picture language, with one picture representing on word. But the Rosetta Stone discovered in France proved to be a sort of decoder ring as it contained both the Egyptian hieroglyphics and the corresponding Greek text. Thus, they deciphered that the pictures represented letters. 

Another interesting fact was how to read hieroglyphics. If vertical (as shown in the largest section of the artifact below), read from top to bottom. But if horizontal, it depends on direct the animals are facing. If facing right, read right to left. Very versatile language. 

Who knew? Pharaohs wore fake beards though men were normally clean shaven. Imitating the god Iris. Funny that their fake beards fell off over the years :). 

Assyria

Isa 8:7,8 - 2700 years in advance, Assyria is foretold to discipline Jehovah's people, but only go as far as the neck. In his personal journal of all his exploits, after taking Lachish and other surrounding cities, Sennacherib boasts that he had Hezekiah trapped like bird in cage (sounds familiar). 

Then according to his version of the story, he decided to go back to villages already conquered saying the Hezekiah promised to pay him money. But we know what really happened. As foretold, he went as far as the neck but not the head (capital city: Jerusalem). Hard to fight without vast army of 185,000 men.

Another interesting finding from the Assyrian era was some Lachish letters written by a man in Jerusalem who mentioned Jehovah's name twice. Name looks different - not square letters that we are used to seeing - that lettering style was not used until after the Babylonian exile (see reference in Appendix A4 - New World Translation). But the more important fact is that it's proof that the Jews used Jehovah's name regularly - refuting the claim that they did not use God's name out of superstition.

Medes & Persians

Isa 44:28 Cyrus is referred to as Jehovah's shepherd and foretold to carry out God's will. What does a shepherd do? Gathers sheep and brings them back home. Cyrus cylinder proved he was opposite of the typical conquerer that would usually deported captives. Instead, he returned them to their homeland. And was deemed as an early human rights champion. This was God's will so that pure worship could be established in preparation for the Messiah to arrive 500 years later. 

How can you tell the Medes from the Persians?

Who entered Babylon first?

These are just a few of the amazing gems I gleaned from the 1 hour tour. Final reference: Isa 46:9-11b the biblical definition of prophecy. It's not just history written in advance. Jehovah can see the future but he can also make it happen. 

Where will we end up next?