Twenty five years of backgrounders on the Bible, describing the latest discoveries and developments in Biblical Archaeology, over 200 of the world’s top archaeologists and Bible scholars interviewed; that’s the story of The Book and the Spade, a Madison-produced radio program that will be celebrated next February with another exclusively designed Book & The Spade Holyland Study Tour. A Study Tour is more than a pilgrimage, it’s a chance to see the traditional Holyland sites along with the most important archaeological sites that are constantly refreshing our understanding of the Biblical stories.
The first Book & the Spade Study Tour was in 1985, just two years after co-hosts Gordon Govier and Keith Schoville began The Book & The Spade. The next tour was seven years later, in 1992. There were four more tours after that, up through 2001. Now, seven years later, plans are being laid for another visit to see the sites of the latest discoveries that have been reported on the weekly broadcasts. Such as:
- The Tomb of Herod the Great, finally discovered earlier this year after a 30-year search by archaeologist Ehud Netzer.
- The city of David area, the oldest part of Jerusalem, which has been a hotbed of archaeological activity in the last few years.
- Archaeologist Eilat Mazar is excavating what she believes is the palace of King David and the Kings of Judah
- Archaeologist Roni Reich has uncovered half of the Pool of Siloam from the time of Jesus.
- Hippos/Sussita, one of the cities of the decapolis overlooking the Sea of Galilee, where archaeologists this summer discovered the rare 2,000-year old imprint of a Roman legionnaire’s sandal.
One of the highlights of the tour will be a whole afternoon and evening in Nazareth, the home town of Jesus. In years past tours typically stopped in Nazareth for only a couple of hours, to see the Church of the Annunciation. There wasn’t a lot more to see that was directly connected to the Bible, despite the importance of Nazareth in the story of the life of Jesus Christ. But now archaeologists have excavated a 2000-year old farmstead and surrounded it with authentically recreated scenes that would have been familiar to Jesus and other residents of first century Nazareth. It’s called Nazareth Village and the director, Shirley Roth—a resident of Madison—is currently the director.
The first pre-tour meeting for those interested in next February’s Holyland Tour will be 6pm, Sunday evening, September 30th, at the community room of the Mirabel Apartments at 8001 Ritz Drive, on Madison’s southwest side. Anyone who has an interest in the tour is welcome, attendance in no way obligates anyone to participate in the tour. For additional information, contact Gordon Govier at editor@madisonchristians.com