Posted on 07/25/2006 8:00:35 PM PDT by I still care
DUBLIN, Ireland -- Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded the discovery of an ancient book of psalms by a construction worker who spotted something while driving the shovel of his backhoe into a bog.
The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.
"This is really a miracle find," said Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, which has the book stored in refrigeration and facing years of painstaking analysis before being put on public display.
"There's two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out. First of all, it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing."
He said an engineer was digging up bogland last week to create commercial potting soil somewhere in Ireland's midlands when, "just beyond the bucket of his bulldozer, he spotted something." Wallace would not specify where the book was found because a team of archaeologists is still exploring the site.
"The owner of the bog has had dealings with us in past and is very much in favor of archaeological discovery and reporting it," Wallace said.
Crucially, he said, the bog owner covered up the book with damp soil. Had it been left exposed overnight, he said, "it could have dried out and just vanished, blown away."
The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.
Wallace said several experts spent Tuesday analyzing only that page - the number of letters on each line, lines on each page, size of page - and the book's binding and cover, which he described as "leather velum, very thick wallet in appearance."
It could take months of study, he said, just to identify the safest way to pry open the pages without damaging or destroying them. He ruled out the use of X-rays to investigate without moving the pages.
Ireland already has several other holy books from the early medieval period, including the ornately illustrated Book of Kells, which has been on display at Trinity College in Dublin since the 19th century.
What do you know... The Irish invented Bogging. (An early form of blogging.)
Chilling.
Thanks for posting this, but other freepers have a thread going already, but they are from different sources. :)
This is what I found so interesting as well. The page that it was opened too. It sounds like the rest of the pages are stuck for now. Maybe God wants us and especially Israel to know that he sees what is going on.
WOW!
Thanks for posting this.
What a coincidence:
"The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel."
Some things never change ... till He returns.
Any links on those threads.
This fascinates me.
TIA.
The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.
Coincidence? Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmm.........
There are no coincidences!
Here is the link to the other thread
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1672039/posts
ATTENTION! A SIGN A SIGN FROM GOD
Psalm 83
A song. A psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, do not keep silent;
be not quiet, O God, be not still.
2 See how your enemies are astir,
how your foes rear their heads.
3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.
4 "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel be remembered no more."
5 With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you-
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
of Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal, [a] Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
8 Even Assyria has joined them
to lend strength to the descendants of Lot.
Selah
9 Do to them as you did to Midian,
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
10 who perished at Endor
and became like refuse on the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, "Let us take possession
of the pasturelands of God."
13 Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,
like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.
16 Cover their faces with shame
so that men will seek your name, O LORD.
17 May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.
18 Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD
that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.
"with the people of Tyre" That is one of the cities that is being bombed in Leb....!~
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
"the Ishmaelites, of Moab"
~the MOABs of Israelites...
signs signs everywhere theres signs!
3 With cunning they conspire against your people;they plot against those you cherish.
4 "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more."
It certainly warrants consideration, doesn't it?
If it is true that God will bless those who bless the nation of Abraham, then let us remember to bless them in our appeals to the Lord and in our actions and words.
4 "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more."
The above passage is what the enemies of the Lord are saying about Israel.
mind boggling! :-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.