WHO WAS ELIJAH?

Elijah was the last and one of the foremost Hebrew prophets and a supernatural worker in the two Books of Kings in the Old Testament. His name means "my God is YHWH." Elijah's home was in Tish'Beth, a village in the land of Gilead, East of the Jordan River. He started his long career as prophet during the reign of King Ahab of Israel and his Phoenician-born queen Jezebel, and continued as such during the reign of Ahab's son Ahaziah. The last time he is mentioned serving as a prophet (this time for Judah) is toward the end of the 8th Year reign of King Jehoram of Judah (2 Chronicles 21; 2 Kings: 8).
Israel, still united under Solomon, it was ripped in two as it is mentioned in the Scripture:- the Northern kingdom of Israel and -the Southern kingdom of Judah which retained Jerusalem along whit its Temple.
The first king of the 10-tribe kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam, was the son of Nebat, one of Solomon's officers in the village of Zered'Ah; of the tribe of Ephraim. At an early age Jeroboam was left fatherless, to be raised by his widowed mother Zeru'Ah (1King 11). When Solomon observed that Jeroboam was not only a valiant, mighty man but also a hard worker, he was put in charge of the compulsory labor force of the House of Joseph. Subsequently, God's prophet Ahij'Ah approached him with specific news. After tearing his new garment into 12 pieces the prophet told Jeroboam to take 10 of them in a way to symbolize how God would rip Solomon's kingdom in 2 and make Jeroboam king over 10 of the tribes.This was a governmental division and not a departure from true worship centered at the temple in Jerusalem, the capital of the Southern Kingdom. So God assured Jeroboam that He would bless and prosper his reign and build him a lasting House of Successors as long as he keeps God's Law and Commandments (1King11:40).
It was upon learning of these events that Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam. He fled to Egypt and there under the sheltering protection of Pharaoh Shishak he remained alive until the death of Solomon. Upon the news he quickly returned to his homeland where he joined his people that at that specific time were demanding that Solomon's son, Rehoboam, lighten their burdens if he wanted the support of the 10 tribes to his kingship. Rehoboam disregarded the good advice of the older counselors in taking the supporting offer, preferring to take the advice of his younger companions who told him to increase the workload of the people. The 10 tribes responded to this harshness by making Jeroboam their king. This turn of affairs took place in order to make Jeroboam the one to carry out the task that God had spoken by means of Abij'Ah the prophet (1Kings 12; 2 Chronicles 10). Jeroboam immediately set about to build up Shechem as his royal capital, and East of Shechem, on the other side of the Jordan, he fortified the settlement of Penuel (Peniel), the place where Jacob had wrestled with an angel (Genesis 32).
Jeroboam, upon seeing his subjects streaming up to the temple in Jerusalem to worship God, he thought in a human way that in time his subjects might switch their allegiance to Rehoboam and kill him.
So, to secure himself in his post, Jeroboam designed a religion centered around 2 golden calves, which he set up, one at Beth'El in the South, the other at Dan in the North, with his own non-Aaronic priest-hood, composed of those among the people in general who were willing to procure the office by offering 1bull and 7 rams. These designed religion then served for the high places, for the goat-shaped demons and for the calves that he had made. He also invented special holy days and personally led the people in sacrificing to his newly created gods (1 Kings 12; 2 Kings 22; 2 Chron 11; 13).
Omri, succeeded him as King of Israel and continued the policies of king Jeroboam, contrary to God's Law. He also encouraged the building of local temple altars for sacrifices and worship of Baal. He, for a time, achieved economic prosperity and domestic security using a marriage alliance between his son Ahab and princess Jezebel, a priestess of Baal and daughter of the king of Sidon. But the marriage did not bring peace between the spiritual forces at stake. The true prophets of God exercised at that time a very strict interpretation and application of God's Law to the people who followed the true worship of the God of Israel. The tensions grew and this was the time when the spiritual and moral condition of the people of Israel fell to an alarmingly low state. Ahab, committed to build a strong worship for Baal and Asherah, his wife Jezebel, a priestesses and queen of the Northern kingdom, brought a large entourage of Baal &Asherah's priests, priestesses and prophets into their territory.
It is in this context that Elijah is introduced in 1Kings 17 as Elijah "the Tish'Bite." He is sent by God to announce chastisement. With his first reported words: "As the Lord, the God of Israel before whom I do stand Is Living," he pointed out that the living God of Israel made a decree that no sacred rain or dew will occur for a period of Years, except at Elijah's word (3 Years and 6 Months). After this, God directed Elijah to the Torrent Valley of Cherith to the East of the Jordan in the territory of the Tribe of Gad. Here ravens brought food to him. He got sacred water from the Torrent Valley, which in God's due time dried up. God continued to guide him, sending him across to the Western side of Ahab's land to Zarephath, between Sidon and Tyre, where Ahab's father-in-law Eth'Baal was ruling (1 King 16).
In this place, Elijah meets a widow preparing a final meal for herself and her son with their very last bit of sacred flour and oil. He requested the widow to make a cake for him promising that the provision of the God of Israel would protect her and her son during the sacred drought. Because she recognized him as a man of God she complied to his request and she received the blessing. During Elijah's stay in her home the widow's son died. Elijah prayed to God, and God brought him to life. Many believers have the thought that the widow's son was Jonah, the prophet who disobeyed God's command, and since the Scripture teaches God's Law in a very symbolic way, the thought is correct.
Eventually God instructed Elijah to show himself to Ahab requesting a meeting with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asher'Ah on Mount Carmel. Elijah proposed a test to prove Who is the True God to be followed in front of all the people of Israel. Whichever god answer by consuming a bull sacrificing to him is to be acknowledge by all. Baal is first called on, but in vain, no proof that Baal is a living god, although his prophets kept praying to him even cutting themselves according to their ritual.
Elijah mercilessly mocked them, increasing their frenzy (1 Kings 18). Now Elijah was free to perform his act. He mended an altar that had been torn down using 12 stones. Then he had the priests soaking in water the offering and the altar 3 times with the trench around the altar circumscribing the squared area filled with the water. About the time of the daily evening Grain Offering, Elijah payed once to the God of Israel, the only living God, and Fire came from the heavens consuming not just the offering, but also the wood, the stones of the altar and the water in the trench. The people seeing this, fell upon their faces saying: "God is the true living God of Israel!" Then Elijah slaughtered all the 450 prophets of Baal at the torrent Valley of Kish'On. Then God answered Elijah's prayer and broke the drought by a downpour of sacred rain.
On being informed of the death of Baal's prophets, Jezebel vowed to have Elijah put to death. Elijah fled in fear Southwestward of Beer-Sheba, to the West of the lower Dead Sea. Leaving his attendant there, he went still farther into the wilderness, praying to die. Here the angel of the Lord appeared to him, to prepare Elijah for a long journey to the sacred mountain of the True God, Horeb. Sustained for 40 days by what he ate on his journey, he arrived at Horeb. Then God spoke to him after a display of His Power in an awe-inspiring wind, earthquake and fire. Unlike the personalized and idolized power of Baal as the god of sky, storm, weather and vegetation, that represent natural forces, God showed to Elijah that He is not in these manifestations, which are merely expressions of His Active Force. Then God manifested to Elijah His Power with the purpose of correcting Elijah's thought about considering himself the lone worshiper of God in Israel. God showed him the 7,000 ones who have not bowed to Baal's power. Elijah was sent back to his assignment, naming 3 persons who were to be anointed or commissioned to do a work for God: Hazael as king over Syria, Jehu as king over Israel, and his own successor Elisha (1 Kings 19). Time later, the greedy Baal-worshiper Ahab, illegally seized a sacred vineyard, the hereditary possession of Nab'Oth the Jezre'Elite, by allowing his wife to use false charges, false witnesses and unrighteous judges to have Nab'Oth murdered. Elijah met Ahab at the vineyard and told him that his blood will be licked up by dogs at the same place where the dogs licked up the blood of Nab'Oth. Elijah also announced a similar fate for Jezebel. Three Years later Ahab died in battle. His war chariot was washed by the pool of Samaria and the dogs licked up his blood. Time later, his wife was executed and also her blood was licked by dogs.
Then the time for Elijah to transfer his sacred mantle of his prophetic office to Elisha, came. Elijah went to Beth'El, from there to Jericho and then down to the Jordan. Elisha sticked close to him all the way. Because of his faithfulness Elisha is rewarded by seeing a fiery war chariot with fiery horses and Elijah ascending to the heavens in a windstorm, and at the same time Elijah's garment fell off him and it was received by Elisha and the two parts (like a firstborn son's portion) of Elijah's spirit.
In Matthew 10, Jesus shadows the same circumstances that occurred in Elijah's time by saying: "Those who declare publicly that they belong to Me, I will do the same for them before My Father in heaven. But those who reject Me publicly, I will reject them before My Father in Heaven. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law, your worst enemies will be the members of your own family. Those who love their father or mother more than me are not fit to be My disciples; those who love their son or daughter more than me are not fit to be My disciples.Those who do not take up their cross and follow in My steps are not fit to be My disciples. Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for My sake will gain it."
Ahab and his queen Jezebel, stand at the end of a line of kings of Israel who are said to have "done evil in the sight of the Lord" it projects the same end of times in which all believers are going to be tested and the circumstances of today proved to be the same.
Elijah is the one who holds the keys of the priesthood and is portrayed as the leader of the school of prophets known as "the sons of the prophets," that was continued by his successor Elisha.

THE WISDOM OF THE PROVERBS.

The Book of Proverbs contains many valuable lessons for everyone. Over thousands of years, it has taught billions of people how to live their lives and how to improve their lives as well. It is packed with life lessons and insights that are still very valuable to our lives in the world of today.
The very beginning of Wisdom is fearing the Lord. This fear is not the kind of fear of being struck dead but one reverential fear, respect of His Laws, and deep admiration of His Glory. To have this fear we must continually abide in His Word, the Scripture. The more we know about God the more we learn to fear Him. Where there is no fear there is no Wisdom.
Wisdom is the ability to discern which aspects of knowledge are true, right, lasting, and applicable to our personal life. Knowledge is made of about facts and ideas that we acquire through investigation, observation or experience. Insight is a truer understanding, and the deepest and clearest perception of life . It grasp the underlying nature of knowledge, and the essence of wisdom. Proverbs 2 says: "Indeed if you Call Out For Insight, Cry Aloud For Understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for gold, then you will Understand the Fear of the Lord and Find Knowledge of God" (3-5).
Some Scriptural verses tell us how things were wrong when every man did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25). The idea of Trusting God is trusting in What He Says and what He says is often contrary to what humans believe. Proverbs 16:20 says: "Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is the one who Trust In The Lord." The more we lean on our own ideas we are showing a lack of Trust in God. Our own understanding lead us to a hard fall and eventually to an eternal death.
The greatest way to build discernment is to lean in God's Words for it has power to discern what is the best path to take. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Dark paths lead us to death.
David knew this kind of power and that is why he wrote "The Law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The Statutes of the Lord are Trustworthy, making wise the simple"(Psalm 19:7).
It is not a coincidence that there is so much Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs. It has 31 chapters that are there waiting to be read and become part of our deep thinking. They reveal God's perspective on our daily life, increasing our power of observation and the effect that they bring is to gain Wisdom day by day. They comments extensively on relationships, mentioning more than 180 different kinds of people. Each of them may speak about our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and even our enemies.
Some Proverbs refer to behavioral patterns that God either applauds or condemn pinpointing the behavior that God wants us to implement or curb. Other Proverbs describe the positive or negative consequences of a particular course of action motivating us to discard unwise behaviors. For example, Proverbs 15:25 warns us about the damaging consequences of pride: "The Lord tears down the proud man's house." Also Proverbs 16:18 says: "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before fall."
Over 100 verses in the Book of Proverbs talk about the tongue describing conversational sins. When we provide an apt answer or a timely word, it is because we adopted a listening posture before we talk.
Spend time meditating on each one of the chapters and commit to your memory verses that challenged you the most or left the biggest impression in your conscience. For example, if you have a tendency of being rude in your conversational manners remember Proverbs 1:15 that says: "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Proverbs 14:30 says as well: "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones."
Applying Truth from Proverbs to stimulate the growing of your personal character in your walk with God, remember them as practical tools to enhance your vision and not a legalistic straightjacket. Think of it as a kaleidoscopic approach that enables us to see many facets of Truth in each of the chapters and soak deeply on the Wisdom of this practical Book of Proverbs.

ANCIENT EDUCATION IN MESOPOTAMIA.

In ancient Israel, the chief source of information regarding education was the teachings written in the Old Testament. The writers of the Old testament were not interested in education as it is known now in the Western world, instead they were more concerned about the transmission of ceremonial traditions, and the provision of information concerning this type of educational processes.
This evidence is supplemented by other literary sources and archaeological discoveries. A form of cuneiform writing was established, scribal places of teachings emerged, with the aim to teach the understanding of the form of writing to scribes serving in palaces, temples, and administration offices. In ancient Summer and Egypt, a form of schooling was developed prior to Israel's conquest of Canaan and this practice influenced the education and development of teaching practices in Israel, related to the family unit.
The places of teaching this art flourished between 2,500 and 2,000 BC and the variety of positions held by the scribes suggests that the places were numerous. The students were the sons of wealthy families and the fathers of the students generally held responsible positions. The head of the institution was the most experienced father, the assistants were "the big brothers"and the students were called "sons" or "sons of the Tablet House." The curriculum included both oral and written practices. Discipline was enforced by strong methods that included whipping or caning. Ancient instruction texts that have been recovered bears the writing of students at various stages along the way towards mastery of the script.
Young-scribes-to-be were taught lists of words and terms which would be needed for writing various  ceremonial documents; and also the practice of copying them was enforced.
Rooms used to teach these practices have been found in Nippur, Sippar, Ur, and Mari. A"teaching day"
article written about 2,000 BC by an anonymous instructor vividly describes the daily routine at the instruction places and a successful attempt at"apple polishing." Learning the staggering number of of necessary characters of the oral and writing process took a great deal of time; the student memory was taxed, and discipline was harsh. The use of Wisdom's sayings in their curriculum was popular since they were brief and generally edifying.
Sumerian teachings in cuneiform writing were later collected by the Assyrian king Ashur'Banipal, whose library also contained interlinear texts of Sumerian and Assyrian.
In Egypt, this formal type of education was introduced sometime during the 3rd millennium BC. It was primarily vocational in aim, teaching the skills needed to become a priest, crafter, noble, or soldier.
The priests were the first to use writing taught in temple schools, since lives of the dead were written and buried with them. Sacred music and dance were also taught because of the ceremonial significance.
Written texts for teaching purposes unearthed from trash heaps near the temples suggest that great attention was paid to calligraphy. In addition to various correspondences and documents used as models to be copied by the students, there are writings which praise the scribe's occupation and exhort the student to diligence.
The nomadic Israelites were influenced directly or indirectly by this approach of philosophical training prior to the settlement of the tribes of Israel in Canaan. We can only speculate about it in the person of Moses and his personal education among the Egyptians and his role as mediator of Egyptian pedagogy to the Israelites. (Acts 7:22; Exodus 2: 10-15) After the Conquest, educational practices were adopted and more youths were taught to write.  Alphabetic writing developed by the Hyksos period of 1730-1580 BC. It is the earliest known alphabet . The Phoenician alphabet also influenced the development of early Hebrew writing.
For ancient Israelites, the training of one's children was a religious duty, and much of the content of what was taught in the homes was the sacred religious beliefs of Israel. Genesis 18:19 states: "For I have chosen Abraham, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the Way of the Lord by doing Righteousness and Justice; so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He Has Promised him." This verse underscores the importance of instruction, its purpose (that children might live righteously and justly), and the integral relationship of this kind of instruction to the hope of the nation ("that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has Promised him).

THE AMARNA TABLETS.

The Amarna Tablets are an archive, written on clay, primarily consisting of correspondence between the Egyptian representatives in Canaan and the rest of the Great Powers and independent kingdoms, between 1360-1332 BC. The recovery of the Amarna Tablets in our time was the result, in part, of their storage in ancient times in the Royal Records Office in the kingdom of Egypt. They total 382 ordered chronologically and geographically and the time in between the correspondence spans a period of at most 30 years. Several Tablets dates back to the rule of Amen'Hotep III (1390-1353 BC), father of Akhen'Aten, meaning that they were brought to the new royal city from an older archive. The primary reason for the storage is explained practically by the information recorded in them -recent ceremonial promises, requests, gifts and tribute- tangible traces of important contracts forged across long distances that needed to be checked or verified by the future generation of rulers.
Most of the Tablets are ceremonial correspondence written from rulers of the lands North of Egypt and received by the Egyptians, and only a few of them were written by the Egyptian king. Some of the letters, written on the clay surface, seem to have been made to be visually impressive, with larger tablet sizes and bold handwriting as well as carefully planned margins or marked-off sections.
Like other rulers who wrote to the Egyptian king, Abi-Milku and Ashur-Uballit sought to achieve  specific goals: -one practical like the assurance of safety and protection, -the other ideological and status-oriented like establishing contact with Egypt and acquiring knowledge of the foreign land. Other correspondence are inscribed with myths, epics, syllabary, lexical texts belonging to the kind used to learn cuneiform writing. Also some of them contain instructions for ceremonial training purposes, the exchanged correspondence requests or send a list of gifts asking something in return.These information is divided into Tablets that exchanged correspondence between Great Powers and the ones with correspondence to independent kingdoms only.
-The Great Powers were considered an exclusive group in which kingdoms were treated equally. They were the most influential and prosperous. Egypt only entered this group after the campaigns of Thut'Mose III. The others were Babylon, Hatti, Mitanni, and Assyria. They had a brotherly relationship and had to employ a specific pattern when writing to each other. At first, they had to identify who was writing and for whom the letter was written, then, report their wishes to the other, as showed in this example : "Say to Nap'Hurreya, the king of Egypt, my brother, my son-in-law, whom I love and whom loves me: Thus Tush'Ratta, Great King, the king of Mittani, you father-in-law, who loves you, your brother. For me all goes well. For Tadu-Heba, my daughter, your wife, for the rest of your wives, for your sons, for your magnates, for your chariots, for your horses, for your troops, for your country, and for whatever else belongs to you, may all go very, very well."  The rest of the correspondence was less stereotypical, making requests or listing the items being sent.
- The Independent Kingdoms are only two places, which is Ar'Zawa and Al'Ash'Iya.   Ar'Zawa was located on the South of the Anatolian coast. The alliance with Egypt was made via marriage.  Al'Ash'Iya was on Cyprus and was known as a source of copper.
The Amarna Tablets were discovered around 1887 CE, in Upper Egypt (Land of Reeds), by local Egyptians who secretly dug most of them from an area located in the center of the ruined city, the short lived capital of Akhen'Aten, founded by pharaoh, Akhen'Aten (1350s-1330s BC) and sold them in the antiquities market.
Akhen'Aten, known before the 5th BC as Amen'Hotep IV (Amun is satisfied), was a pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty who ruled for 17 years and died in 1336 BC. He is noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the Aten, an aspect of the god Ra, focusing on the monotheistic religion of Atenism. He tried to shift the traditional Egyptian religion to the monotheistic one. The shift was not widely accepted. After his death, his monuments were dismantled and hidden, his statues destroyed, and his name excluded from the king lists. Traditional Egyptian practices were gradually restored and years later, new rulers without clear rights of succession from the 18th Dynasty climbed into power, they founded a new dynasty, discrediting Akhen'Aten and his immediate successors, referring to Akhen'Aten himself as "the enemy" or "that criminal" in archival records. He was all but lost in history until the discovery of the Amarna Tablets.
In 1891- 1892 the ruins of the site of Akhen'Aten, the city built and designed for the worship of Aten, were explored more by an English digger and archaeologist by nature, with no formal education, but instructed at home as a surveyor by his own father. He uncovered 21 fragments. Then, since 1903, more tablets, or fragments, have been found, either in Egypt, or identified in the collections of various museums in Germany, England, Egypt, France, Russia, and the United States.
The Tablets were found in Upper Egypt (named: "the Land of Reeds,"a strip of land on both sides of the Nile between Nubia to Lower Egypt), at Amarna, the modern name for the ancient Egyptian capital of Akhet'Aten (el-Amarna), founded by pharaoh, Ahken'Aten (1350s-1330s BC) during the 18th dynasty of Egypt (classified as the 1st of the Ancient New Kingdom period lasting from 1549 to 1292 BC). This dynasty boasts several of Egypt's most famous pharaohs, including Tutankh'Amun.
The Amarna  Tablets are of great significance for Scriptural studies since they shed light on the ancient culture and language of the Canaanite people several centuries prior to their actual manifestation. The tablets are mostly written in Akkadian cuneiform, rather than of ancient Egypt, and heavily colored by the mother tongue of the writers, who spoke an early form of Canaanite, the language family which later evolved into its daughter languages, Hebrew and Phoenician.
The Tablets of Amarna proofs that the history of the Scriptural writings and the conquest of the Promise Land under Joshua leadership, is true. The Hebrew conquest of Canaan took 8 Years to complete but it was not counted until he began the conquest of Southern Israel, followed by the conquest of Northern Israel. Aaron died on the 1st Day of the 5th Month of the 40th Year of the wilderness wandering. Shortly after mourning Aaron for 30 Days, the people left Mount Hor, defeated Trans'Jordan nations, and then mourned for Moses 30 Days. They crossed the Jordan on the 10th Day of the 1st Month of the 41st Year, 4 Days before the Passover, which was exactly 40 Years to the Day they left Goshen.
From Joshua 14 we know that Caleb was given Hebron 45 Years after Moses promised it to him. This correspond with the 5th Year after crossing the Jordan.
The Habiru (also spelled Apiru) who are attacking the ones who are writing the Amarna Tablets, are the Hebrews under the command of Joshua. The etymology of "Hebrew" is "one who wanders." The 1st time the word "hebrew" is used in the Scripture is in Genesis 14 when it is applied to Abraham.
The Amarna Tablets make the connection of Habiru with Hebrew and tells about the Hebrews taking possession of the Land of Canaan shortly after they crossed the Jordan River under the command of Joshua. They are a secular witness to the Power of God and the truthfulness of the Scriptural record.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

Ancient Egyptians had a rich knowledge, since prehistoric times (5th BC), of the patterns and behaviors of the sky which permeated every aspect of their society. This knowledge led them to create a number of myths to explain the astronomical phenomena that played a considerable part in fixing dates of religious festivals and determining the hours of night. Trained priests were especially adept at watching the stars and observing the conjunctions and risings of the Sun, Moon, and planets, as well as the lunar phases. This is the reason why Egyptian gods and goddesses were so numerous and they are pictured in many paintings and murals.
Only certain gods were seen in the constellations, and others were represented by actual astronomical bodies.The constellation Orion, for instance, represented Osiris, who was the god of death, rebirth, and the afterlife. The Milky Way represented the sky goddess Nut giving birth to the sun god Ra. The stars were represented by the goddess of writing, Se'Shat, while the moon was either Toth, the god of wisdom, or Khons, a child moon god.
In the 3rd BC the observation of the horizon was extremely important, since it was here that the Sun appeared and disappeared daily. The Sun itself was represented by several gods, depending on its position. A rising morning Sun was Horus, the divine child of Osiris and Isis. The noon Sun was Ra because of its incredible strength. The evening Sun became Atum, the creator god who lifted pharaohs from the tombs to the stars. The red color of the Sun at sunset was considered to be the blood from the Sun as he died. After the Sun had set, it became Osiris, god of death and rebirth. In this way, night was associated with death and day with life or rebirth.
Egyptians grew in number and made the Nile River the center of its civilization, which flooded every year at the same time and provided rich soils for agriculture. Owing to the flood's own irregularity, the extreme precision of the Sirius star and the time of its return was very important to them. They named it Sopdet (meaning: Triangle), a goddess who was the guarantor of fertility over their land. The Egyptian priests, recognized that the flooding always occurred at the summer solstice, which was also when the bright star Sirius rose before the Sun. The priests, who were actually astronomers, were able to predict the annual flooding.
Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, is recorded in the earliest astronomical records. Its displacement from the ecliptic (the mean plane in the sky the Sun follows over a year), causes the star rising above the others in a remarkably regular basis compared to other stars, with a period exactly 365 days holding it constant in relation to the solar year. This occur at Cairo on July 19 (Julian), placing it just prior to the summer solstice and the onset of the annual flooding of the Nile.
The Egyptians continued to note the times of Sirius's annual return, which led them to discover the 1460-year Sothic cycle (Egyptian civil years of 365 days each or 1460 Julian years averaging 363 days each) and influenced the development of the Julian and Alexandrian calendars.
The Egyptian structures were built using astronomical orientation. The temples and pyramids were constructed in relation to the stars, zodiac, and constellations. In different cities, the structures had different orientations based on the specific beliefs of that place. For instance, some temples were built to align with a star that either rose or set at harvest or sowing time. Other structures were oriented toward the solstices or equinoxes.
As early as 4,000 BC, temples were built so precisely in its orientation that sunlight entered a room at only one precise time of the year. Another alternative building method was to gradually narrow successive doors into a specific room, in order to concentrate the sunbeams onto a god's image on the wall. The designs sometimes became quite complex. At the temple of Medinet Habu, there are actually two structures which are slightly off-kilter. It has been suggested that the second structure was built when the altitude of the other temple's orientation stars changed over a long period of time.
Their pyramids were carefully aligned towards the pole star (axis of rotation), and the temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak (meaning "fortified village"), a vast open site, was aligned on the rising of the midwinter Sun.
In Ptolemaic Egypt, after the death of Alexander the Great in 323BC, the Egyptian tradition merged with Greek and Babylonian astronomy, with the city of Alexandria in Lower Egypt becoming the centre of universal knowledge and activity across the Hellenistic world. Following the Muslim conquest of Egypt, the region came to be dominated by Arabic culture and Islamic astronomy.
Ybn Yunus, born in Egypt between 950-952 CE, became an important Egyptian Muslim astronomer.
His father, a historian, biographer, scholar of Islamic religious law,wrote 2 volumes about the history of Egypt. Ybn's father has been described as a prolific who became Egypt's most celebrated early historian and first known compiler of a biographical dictionary devoted exclusively to Egyptians. Ybn's works are noted for being ahead of time, and, like his father, having been based on meticulous calculations and attention to detail. He worked as an astronomer for the Fatimid Dynasty which came to power and the new city of Cairo was founded. In astrology, Ybn is noted for making predictions and having written a work concerning the heliacal risings of Sirius ("On attainment of Desire"), and on predictions concerning what day of the week the Coptic (Alexandrian calendar) year will start on. Ibn's most famous work in Islamic astronomy is a handbook of astronomical tables which contains very accurate observations expressing them without mathematical symbols. Ybn described 40 planetary conjunctions (Two objects have either same right ascension  or same ecliptic longitude observed from earth) and 30 lunar eclipses. For example, he accurately describes the planetary conjunction that occurred in the year 1000CE as follows: A conjunction of Venus and Mercury in Gemini, observed in the Western sky: "2 planets were in conjunction after sunset on the night of Sunday, May 19, 1000. The time was 8 equi-noctial hours after midday of Sunday ... Mercury was North of Venus and their latitude difference was a 3rd of a degree." Ybn's observations on conjunctions and eclipses were so accurate that they were used by the surveyor Richard Dunthorne, and the autodidactic Simon Newcombs' respective calculations of the secular acceleration of the moon.
In 1006CE, Ali ibn Ridwan, an Arab of Egyptian origin, observed a supernova (SN 1006), reaching an estimated 7.5 visual magnitude, and exceeding 16 times the brightness of Venus). He wrote: "the spectacle was a large circular body, 3 times as large as Venus. The sky was shining because of its light.
The intensity of its light was a little more than a quarter of that of Moon light." Ali ibn also noted that the new star was low on the Southern horizon. It was regarded as the brightest stellar event in recorded history, and Ali ibn left the most detailed description of it. Some astrologers of his time interpreted the event as a portent of plague and famine.
In the 14th CE, Najm al-Din al-Misri, from Egypt wrote a treaty describing over 100 different types of astronomical instruments, many of which he invented himself.
In the 20th CE, Farouk El-Baz from Egypt worked for NASA and was involved in the first Moon Landings (arrival of manned and unmanned robotic missions) with Apollo program, where he assisted in the explorations' plans of the Moon.

THE JORDAN RIVER.

Water is a source of life, energy and absolution in religion, and Rivers have always played an especially important role in worshippers lives. Unfortunately, in the world of today, people have polluted the spiritual purpose of this essential sources of life by industrialization and urban waste.
The Jordan River is a 251km/156mi long River in the Middle East that flows roughly North to South through the Sea of Galilee and on to the Dead Sea. It has an upper course from its sources to the Sea of Galilee, and a lower course South of the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea.
Over its upper course, the Jordan drops rapidly in a 75km/47mi run to the once large and swampy Lake Hula, which is slightly above sea level. Then, exiting the now almost extinct lake, it goes through an even steeper drop over 25km/16mi down to the Sea of Galilee, which enters at its Northern end. The River deposits much of the silt it is carrying within the Lake, which it leaves again near its Southern tip. At that point the river is situated about 210 meters below sea level. The last 120km/75mi long section follows what is commonly termed the "Jordan Valley,"which has less gradient (the total drop is another 210m) so that river meanders before entering the Dead Sea, a terminal Lake about 422 meters below sea level with no outlet. Two major tributaries enter from the East during this last section: the Yarmouk River, the largest tributary of the Jordan that runs in Jordan, Syria, and Israel and drains much of the Hauran plateau, and the Zarqa River, the second largest tributary that encompasses the most densely populated areas of the Jordan River.
In 1964, Israel began operating a pumping station that diverts water from the Sea of Galilee in the North of the country to the highly populated center and arid South. In 1964 also, Jordan constructed a channel that diverted water from the Yarmouk River, one of the major tributaries of the Jordan River, to the East Ghor Canal, the largest irrigation canal system in Jordan that runs parallel to the East bank of the Jordan River. Syria has also built reservoirs that catch the Yarmouk's waters. Environmentalists blame Israel, Jordan, and Syria for extensive damage to the Jordan River ecosystem. The practice of letting sewage and brackish water flow into the river has almost destroyed it all. The waters are now 70% to 90% used for human purposes and the flow is greatly reduced. Because of this and the high evaporation rate of the Dead Sea, as well as industrial extraction of salts through evaporation ponds, the Dead Sea is shrinking rapidly. Rescuing the Jordan could take decades. In 2007, The Jordan River was declared one of the World's most endangered ecological site, due to the lack of cooperation between Israel and the neighboring Arab states.
The people of the Jordan Rift Valley, also called the Syro-African Depression, do not realize that it is an elongated depression shared by modern-day Israel, Jordan, and Palestine. Anything that alter the normal function of its ecosystem will have a change reaction affecting the whole geographical area. This geographic region includes the entire length of the Jordan River -from its sources, through the Hula Valley, the Korazim block, the Sea of Galilee, the Lower Jordan Valley, all the way to the Dead Sea (the lowest point on Earth) and then continues through the Ar'Ab'Ah depression, the Gulf of Aq'Ab'A whose shorelines it incorporates, until finally reaching the Red Sea proper at the Straits of Tir'An. Access to Jordan's only Seaport of Aq'Ab'A and to Israel's only Red Sea seaport of E'Ilat is through the Gulf of Aqaba, which gives the Straits of Tir'An strategic importance.
The Jordan Rift Valley was formed many millions of years ago when the Arabian Plate moved Northward and then Eastward away from Africa. One million years later, the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan Rift Valley rose so that the sea water stopped flooding the area.
The Jordan Rift Valley's lowest point is in the Dead Sea, the lowest spot of which is 790 meters below sea level. Rising sharply to almost 1,000m/3,300ft in the West, and similarly in the East, the Rift is a significant topographic feature over which a few narrow paved roads and difficult mountain tracks lead.
The Great Rift Valley is the continuous geographic trench, approximately 6,000km / 3,700mi in length, that runs from Lebanon's Beqaa Valley in Asia to Mozambique in South Eastern Africa.
In the Scripture, the Jordan River is referred to as the source of fertility of a large plain, said to be watered like "the Garden of God" (Genesis 13). It has a major significancy in Judaism and Christianity Jacob and his sons, crossed it and its tributary, the Jabbok (Al-Zarqa), on his way back from Haran  (Genesis 32). The Jordan is noted as the line of demarcation between the "two tribes and the half tribe" settled to the East (Numbers 34) and the "nine tribes and the half tribe of Manasseh" that, led by Joshua, settle to the West (Joshua 13).
Opposite Jericho, it was called "the Jordan of Jericho"(Num. 34). The Jordan has a number of fords, a shallow place good for crossing, and one is famous as the place where many Ephraimites were slain by Jephthah, the judge (Judges 12). This same forts are mentioned as being near Beth'Barah, where Gideon lay in wait for the Midianites (Judges 7). In the plain of the Jordan, between Suc'Coth and Zar'than, is the clay ground where Solomon had his brass-foundries (1King7). In 2 King 6 the Jordan Valley is portrayed as a Wood Land Region. The trees were rare in most parts of Palestine, but plentiful in the Jordan Valley.
The New Testament speaks several times about Jesus crossing the Jordan during His Ministry (Matt19; Mark10), and of believers crossing the Jordan to come near and hear Him preach and to be healed of their diseases (Matt.4; Mark 3). When his enemies sought to capture Him, Jesus took refuge at Jordan in the place where John the Baptist had first baptized Him (John 10).
Jordan is understood as the bridge to freedom from slavery. The Israelites had to make a difficult and hazardous journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. The actual crossing is the final step of the journey, which is then complete.

KETH'UR'A, MOTHER OF MIDIAN.

The traditional belief among medieval Jewish commentators was that Keth'Ur'A had the same role played by Hagar, the Egyptian handmaid from which Abraham's firstborn Ish'Ma'El, the progenitor of the Ish'Ma'El'Ites, was born. God's plan shows us the Old and the New Covenant with each woman representing the world of the flesh according to the time in which they came to the life of Ab'Ra'Ham.
Hag'Ar and Keth'Ur' A, both are called concubines of Ab'Ra'Ham, but Sarah always was referred to as wife. Sarah is the Covenant itself,  and the 2 concubines represents the Old flesh and the New flesh.
Then when Abraham still was alive, he gave his whole state unto Isaac, his son through his wife Sarah, the son of the Promise, But unto the sons of his concubines Ab'Ra'Ham gave gifts, and sent them away from his son Isaac. Therefore the sons of the concubines have gifts that were given by his father when he was alive but those gifts are not powerful enough to attain salvation and eternal life.
According to the Scripture, the Midianites, were descendants of Midian, the son of Ab'Ra'Ham  through Keth'Ur'A.  Ab'Ra'Ham and Keth'Ur'A had 6 sons.
Genesis 25 says, "... she bore him   Zimr'An, -Jok'Sh'An, -Med'An, -Midi'An, -Ishb'Ak, and  -Shu'Ah.
-Jok'Sh'An's sons were Sh'Eba and Ded'An.  Ded'An descendants were the Assh'Ur'Ites, Letu'Sh'Ites,  Leumm'Ites.
-Mid'Ian's sons were Eph'Ah, -Eph'Er, -Han'Och, -Ab'Ida, -El'Da'Ah. (1-4)
Mid'Ian is also mentioned in the Scripture through these series of events:
-Joseph, an important figure in the Scripture was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers to Mid'Ian, who came across them, and Mid'Ian'Ites sold Joseph to the Ish'Ma'El'Ites. Joseph rose to become vizier, the second powerful man in Egypt next to Pharaoh.
-Mid'An is the place where Moses spent 40 years in voluntary exile after killing an E'gypt'ian.
-Moses married Zipp'Or'Ah the daughter of Jeth'Ro (also known as Reu'El), the priest of Mid'Ian.
-Jeth'Ro advised Moses on establishing a system of delegated legal decision-making.
-Moses asked Hob'Ah, the son of Reu'El (Jeth'Ro) the Midianite, to accompany the Israelites traveling towards the Promised Land because of his local knowledge, although Hob'Ah preferred to return to his homeland.
-Cozbi, the daughter of Z'Ur, a prominent Medianite chief, was speared by Phinehas, a priest, grandson of Aaron and son of Eleazar, the High Priest, together with the Israelite Zim'Ri, son of a Simeon'Ite chief. Zimri, as Prince of a family within the Tribe of Simeon, took the woman into his family as a concubine. The Midianite women's seductions of Israelites to their idol Baal-Peor is described as the cause of offense to God, even though, the Midianites were racially akin to the Israelites as descendants of Abraham, and Moses' own wife Zipporah was Midianite.
-Soon after, God instructed Moses to collect an army and destroy Mid'Ian.
-The Israelites killed every Midianite male including the chief Z'Ur and four other named chiefs, and brought back the women and children as prisoners of war.
-Moses condemned the Midianite women as the cause of the enmity (threatening, forceful adverse) between the Israelites and the Midianites, and ordered every woman who had slept with a man to be killed (Numbers 31), but 32,000 girls who have never slept with a man were kept as slaves.
-Israel was oppressed by Mid'Ian for 7 years during the time of Judges (chapter 6). Gideon was called by God to deliver Israel from Mid'ian's armies. He killed the Mid'Ian princes Or'Eb and Ze'Eb, then pursued their kings Zeb'Ah and Zal'Mun'Na as far as Kar'Kor in the open desert wastes on the East of the Jordan, not far beyond Succoth and Penuel to the South, slaying them as well.
-Hadad the Edomite, opposing King Solomon, passed through Mid'ian and Par'An while fleeing from Edom to Egypt.
-Isaiah 60 speaks of camels from Midian and Ephah coming to "cover your land," along with the gold and frankincense from Sheba. This passage is taken by the Gospel of Matthew as a foreshadowing of the Magi's gift to the infant Jesus. Again the representation of the Abraham's gifts given to the sons of the concubines are offered to the Christ Jesus, showing Him as the only one powerful enough to defeat Satan and the power of Death.
Mid'Ian, in a religious sense, was a foundation or confederation of tribes brought together as a cultic collective league in the vicinity of a sanctuary to exercise their gifts for worship purposes. It is uncertain which deities the Mid'Ianites worship. But through the apparent religio-political connection with the Moab'Ites they are thought to have worshiped a multitude, including Baal-peor and the Queen of heaven, Ash'Ter'Oth.
An Egyptian temple of Hath'Or (personification of joy, music, feminine love, motherhood) at Tim'Na, North of the Gulf of Aq'Aba (area rich in copper ore mined since 5th BC) continued to be used for cultic purposes during Mid'Ian occupation of the site . Mid'Ian transformed the Hath'Or mining temple into a desert tent-shrine. However , whether Hath'Or or some other deity was the object of devotion during this period is difficult to ascertain. Post-holes, large quantities of red and yellow decayed cloth with beads woven into it, along with numerous copper rings/wire used to suspend the curtains, were unearthed all along two walls of the shrine. Mid'Ian did make offerings to whoever the divinity was, especially since a large number of Mid'Ian votive vessels were also discovered in the shrine. The Mid'Ian tent-shrine at Tim'Na is one of the closest parallels to the Scriptural Tabernacles.
The people of Median are also mentioned in the Arabic Q'Ur'An. The word Mad'Yan appears 10 times in it. They are also called "Ash'Abu" meaning "Companions of the Wood."