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EASTSIDE CHURCH OF THE CROSS
The Kansas City Nelson-
Atkins Museum of Art
A Redemptive-Historical Tour
L O U I S B U R G C H U R C H . C O M
S. S. Rives
2011

Welcome to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum
This booklet is a companion for our tour of the museum. Our goal is to explore the museum’s ancient
collection of artifacts in order to discover where ancient cultures and scripture meet. Ancient cultures
consist of architecture, temples, kings, roads, horses, land, farming, trade, money, jewelry, clothing,
pottery, writing, history, covenants, and all the rest, and feed into Biblical studies. As we pay close
attention to these details – even the details found in Kansas City’s modest collection – we will be
observing ancient norms and patterns – and these shed light on the sacred texts. Our Bible is a written
record, birthed in the context of the various periods represented in the Nelson-Atkins Museum.
Moses was raised Egyptian, Abraham was from Ur, Judah was in Babylon, Jesus lived under Roman rule,
and the church finds itself scattered throughout the whole world. In each instance, those varied
backgrounds inform and contribute to our understanding of God, his Word, and his people.
The conviction behind this tour is that the culture re-discovered by archaeology is an illuminating ray
that shines on the pages of Scripture. The Bible is the inerrant and authoritative Word of God, and
historical studies help us to hear and interpret that Word as we seek to enjoy our Triune God by it.
Getting our bearings
In this Tour, we will be working from Three Conceptual Sets of Maps:
Map #1: The Physical World, Lands and Geography
Map #2: The History of Kings, Kingdoms, Peoples and Ideas
Map #3: Redemption
Along the way, you need to keep in mind where we are on each of the Three Maps, as it were, especially
as we discuss the relationship of God’s advancing Redemption, to world Geography and the rise and fall
of Kings and Kingdoms. The map of Redemption is the one that all others server, and it divides world
history into epochs: From Garden-Creation to humanity’s attack on God, from the Garden-Attack to
Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses and the Exodus, from the Exodus to Captivity
and Babylonian Exile, from Persia to Rome, from Rome and 2 nd Temple Judaism to the Cross. And it is
from Cross to Empty tomb that the great division is established between the Old and New Covenant.
We will move from most ancient to most recent, as follows:
Abraham in Ur
Israel in Egypt
The Exodus
Israel and the Divided Kingdom in Canaan
Judah returning from Captivity
Judah before the time of Jesus
Christianity in the Roman World
Medieval Christianity
Christianity Today and Post-Modern Worldviews
1

Pre-Tour Briefing
Ur Jewelry and Abraham
The relevant artifacts have been moved from the Nelson Museum, but I leave this section in place as we
get our bearings, for it was the promise to Abraham that God’s people would dwell in Egypt.
Kneeling Deity from Lagash, 2125 BC
Foundation Peg: The god holds the
temple in place.
2

Lagash: Abraham’s World
Genesis 11 27 Now these are the
descendants of Terah. Terah was the
father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran;
and Haran was the father of Lot. 28
Haran died before his father Terah in
the land of his birth, in Ur of the
Chaldeans. 29 Abram and Nahor took
wives; the name of Abram‘s wife was
Sarai, and the name of Nahor‘s wife
was Milcah. She was the daughter of
Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah.
30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no
child. 31 Terah took his son Abram
and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram‘s wife, and
they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they
came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were two hundred five years; and Terah
died in Haran.
3

Abraham’s Trip along the Fertile Crescent
Stephen, as he appeals to
the story of the Kingdom of
God, he goes back to
Abraham:
Acts 7:1 Then the high
priest asked him, ―Are
these things so?‖ 2 And
Stephen replied: ―Brothers
and fathers, listen to me.
The God of glory appeared
to our ancestor Abraham
when he was in
Mesopotamia, before he
lived in Haran, 3 and said
to him, ‗Leave your
country and your relatives
and go to the land that I will show you.‘ 4 Then he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in
Haran. After his father died, God had him move from there to this country in which you are now
living. 5 He did not give him any of it as a heritage, not even a foot‘s length, but promised to give
it to him as his possession and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. 6 And
God spoke in these terms, that his descendants would be resident aliens in a country belonging to
others, who would enslave them and mistreat them during four hundred years.
4
History is explained in Redemptive
Epochs, including the Call of Abraham
and the Time of Egyptian Slavery.

Lower
Egypt
Upper
Egypt
Egypt: The Two Lands
5

Stop 1. Israel in Egypt: Nefertiti, Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV)
Queen Nefertiti: 1370BC -1330BC
Nefertiti was wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, whose name means Amen is satisfied. Amen/Amun was
worshiped in Thebes (the powerbase of the priests).
Religious Renovations
Amenhotep IV takes the name,
Akenaten (Aten is “the disc of the
sun”) and moves capital from Thebes
to Akhetaten (Amarna). The new city
was soon demolished and
abandoned.
1. Polytheism
2. Henotheism (worship of one
god, while accepting that
others can worship other
gods).
3. Monolatry (accepts existence
of other gods, but only one is
worthy of worship)
4. Monotheism (belief in one
deity)
6

A City and a Cache of Clay Tablets (the Amarna Letters)
Providentially, this period, this city (its abandonment) and the resulting excavations have granted us
great insight into Canaan (and the Habiru). This introduction ס ִby Shlomo Izr’el of Tel Aviv University,
the model is from the University of Cambridge, www.AmarnaProject.com.
The Amarna tablets are named after the site Tell el-Amarna (in middle Egypt)
where they were discovered. The first Amarna tablets were found by local
inhabitants in 1887. They form the majority of the corpus. Subsequent
excavations
at the site
have yielded
less than 50
out of the
382 itemized
tablets and
fragments
which form
the Amarna
corpus known
to date.
The majority
of the Amarna
tablets are
letters.
These letters
were sent to
the Egyptian
Pharaohs
Amenophis III
and his son Akhenaten around the middle of the 14th century B.C. The
correspondents were kings of Babylonia, Assyria, Hatti and Mitanni, minor
kings and rulers of the Near East at that time, and vassals of the Egyptian
Empire.
Almost immediately following their discovery, the Amarna tablets were
deciphered, studied and published. Their importance as a major source for the
knowledge of the history and politics of the Ancient Near East during the
14th Century B.C. was recognized. The tablets presented several difficulties
to scholars. The Amarna tablets are written in Akkadian cuneiform script and
present many features which are peculiar and unknown from any other Akkadian
dialect. This was most evident in the letters sent from Canaan, which were
written in a mixed language (Canaanite-Akkadian). The Amarna letters from
Canaan have proved to be the most important source for the study of the
Canaanite dialects in the pre-Israelite period.
7

A Letter from Abdu-Heba of Jerusalem (EA 286)
To the king, my Lord, thus speaks Abdu-Heba, your servant.
At the feet of the king, my Lord, seven times and seven times I
prostrate myself. What have I done to the king, my Lord? They
blame me before the king, my Lord, saying: " Abdu-Heba has
rebelled against the king, my Lord ". I am here, as far as I am
concerned, it was not my father, nor my mother, who put to me
in this position; the arm of the powerful king lead me to the
house of my father! Why would I commit a transgression
against the king, my Lord.
While the king, my Lord, lives, I will say to the commissioner
of the king, my Lord: " Why do you favour the Hapiru and are
opposed to the rulers? " And thus I am accused before the king,
my Lord. Because it is said: " Lost are the territories of the king,
my Lord ". Thus am I calumniated before the king, my Lord!
But may the king, my Lord know, that, when the king sent a
garrison, Yanhamu [The Egyptian commissioner in Palestine]
seized everything, and... the land of Egypt... Oh king, my Lord, there are no garrison troops here!
(Therefore), the king takes care of his land! May the king take care of his land! ! All the
territories of the king have rebelled; Ilimilku caused the loss of all the territories of the king. May
the king take care of his land!
I repeat:
Allow me
to enter
the
presence
of the
king, my
Lord, and
let me
look into
both eyes
of the
king, my
Lord. But
the
hostility
against
me is strong, and I cannot enter the presence of the king, my Lord. May t he king send garrison
troops, in order that I may enter and look into the eyes of the king, my Lord. So certain as the
king, my Lord, lives, when the commissioners come, I will say: Lost are the territories of the
king. Do you not hear to me? All the rulers are lost; the king, my Lord, does not have a single
8

uler left. May the king direct his attention to the archers, and may the king, my Lord, send
troops of archers, the king has no more lands. The Hapiru sack the territories of the king. If there
are archers (here) this year, all the territories of the king will remain (intact); but if there are no
archers, the territories of the king, my Lord, will be lost!
To the king, my Lord thus writes Abdu-Heba, your servant. He conveys eloquent words to the
king, my Lord. All the territories of the king, my Lord, are lost.
Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten (d.1334) Tutankhaten: Tutankamen (1341–1323)
Heretic King Tutankaten Defender of Orthodoxy
Stop 2: Ramases and The Exodus
19th Dynasty Pharaoh Dates
Ramesses I 1292 - 1290
Seti I 1290 - 1279
Ramesses II the Great 1279 - 1213
Merneptah (“Israel’s Seed”) 1213 – 1203
Amenmesse 1203 - 1199
Seti II 1199 - 1193
Siptah 1193 - 1187
Twosret 1187 – 1185
9

But when was the Exodus?
Option 1: The Exodus Under Rameses?
Exodus 1: 8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to
his people, ―Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than
we. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of
war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.‖ 11 Therefore
they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply
cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the
more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites
Option 2: Under Thutmose III?
1 Kings 6: In the 480th year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in
the 4th year of Solomon‘s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second
month, he began to build the house of the YAHWEH.
1. Solomon reigned from 970 BC - 928BC
2. The 4 th year of his reign = 967 BC
3. 480 years earlier = 1447 BC
Option 3: Ahmose I/Amenhotep I ?
18 th Dynasty Pharaoh Dates of Reign
Ahmose I (Nebpehtyre) 1550 BC – 1525 BC
Amenhotep I (Djeserkare) 1525 BC – 1504 BC
Thutmose I (Akheperkare) 1504 BC – 1492 BC
Thutmose II Akheperenre) 1492 BC – 1479 BC
Thutmose III (Menkheperre) 1479 BC – 1425 BC
Hatshepsut (Maatkare) 1479 BC – 1457 BC
Amenhotep II (Akheperure) 1427 BC – 1401 BC
Thutmose IV (Menkheperure) 1401 BC – 1391 BC
Amenhotep III (Nebmaatre) 1391 BC – 1353 BC
Akhenaten (Neferkheperure-waenre) 1353 BC – 1334 BC
Smenkhkare (Ankhkheperure) 1336 BC – 1334 BC
Tutankhamun (Nebkheperure) 1334 BC – 1325 BC
Kheperkheprure Ay 1325 BC – 1321 BC
Horemheb (Djeserkheperure) 1321 BC – 1292 BC
10

Acts 13: ―You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen. 17 The God of this people
Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay in the land of
Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18 For about forty years he put up
with them in the wilderness. 19 After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of
Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance 20 for about four hundred fifty
years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. 21 Then
they asked for a king; and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of
Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. 22 When he had removed him, he made David
their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‗I have found David, son of Jesse, to be
a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.
David (~1000 BC) + Saul’s Reign (40) + Before the Judges (450 ) + Judges (???) + Wilderness (40)
1000 + 40 + 450 + ??? + 40 = 1000 + 490 + 40 = 1000 + 530 = 1530
What takes precedence: Numbers or Names?
Note: 480 = 40 * 12;
LXX has 460
Stop 3: Hieroglyphs: Translating Meteti and Ramases
Introduction to Hieroglyphs
Translating Ramases: See attached worksheets with translation exercises
11

Stop 4: Superior Technology and the Rise of Assyrian Dominance
12

Step 5: Ashurnasirpa II – Israel Prepares for Assyria
13

Isaiah 6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the
hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in
attendance above him; each had six wings: with two
they covered their faces, and with two they covered
their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called
to another and said: ―Holy, holy, holy is the LORD
of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.‖
4 The foundation/pivots on the thresholds shook at
the voices of those who called, and the house filled
with smoke. 5 And I said: ―Woe is me! I am lost, for
I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a
people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the
King, the LORD of hosts!‖
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a
live coal that had been taken from the altar with a
pair of tongs. 7 The seraph touched my mouth with it
and said: ―Now that this has touched your lips, your
guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.‖
14

Assyrian Kings
Adad-nirari II 912 - 891 BC
Tukulti-Ninurta II 891 - 884 BC
Ashur-nasir-pal II 884 - 859 BC
Shalmaneser III 859 - 824 BC
First Assyrian king to come in conflict with Israel. Ahab
fought him. Jehu paid tribute to him
Shamshi-Adad V 822 - 811 BC
Shammu-ramat 811 - 808 BC (regent)
Adad-nirari III 811 - 783 BC
Shalmaneser IV 783 - 773 BC
Ashur-Dan III 773 - 755 BC
Ashur-nirari V 755 - 745 BC
Tiglath-Pileser III 745 - 727 BC
"Pul" He carried North Israel into captivity, 734 B.C.
Isaiah 7; II Kings 15:19-20
Shalmaneser V 727 - 709 BC
Besieged Samaria and died in the siege.
Sargon II 722 - 705 BC (Co-regency with Shalmaneser V)
Completed destruction of Samaria and Israel's captivity.
Sargon I was a Babylonian King of 2000 years earlier. II
Kings 17:5. Massive deportation of people who refuse
to be good vassals. Isaiah 20:1 (University of Chicago!)
Sennacherib 705 - 681 BC
Burned Babylon (II Chron. 32). Defeated by an angel
before Jerusalem in 701 B.C. (Isaiah 37:33-38)
Esarhaddon 681 - 669 BC
Rebuilt Babylon. Conquered Egypt (Nahum 3). Was one
of the greatest of Assyrian kings. Isaiah 37:38
15

Ashurnasirpal II
Great King of Assyria: Builder of Nimrud (Calah)
Nimrud is the Arabic name. The ancient name was Calah, or Kalah. The Arabs called it Nimrud after
Nimrod, the mighty hunter we read of in scripture, father of Ashur (Assur), the whose name explains
why Assyrians are called Assyrians.
Genesis 10
1
These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; sons were born
to them after the flood.
2 3
The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. The
sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish,
Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastland peoples spread. These are the sons of
Japheth in their lands, each with his own language, by their families, in their nations.
6 7
The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah,
Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush became the
father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter
before the LORD; therefore it is said, ―Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.‖ 10 The
beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. 11
From that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah [modern name:
Nimrud/Nimrod], and 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. 13 Egypt
became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naph-tuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim
(whence came the Philistines), and Caphtorim.
16

This next picture shows the entrance to Ashurnasirpal II’s Abode (this was painted by Frederick Cooper,
1850).
An inscription was carved across the surface of each of the large stone relief panels that lined the
walls of the Northwest Palace. This text is now called the Standard Inscription because it is repeated with
only minor variations on each slab. It is written from left to right in the Neo-Assyrian dialect of Akkadian, a
Semitic language. The wedge-shaped script is known as cuneiform, after the Latin word cuneus
("wedge"). Each of the cuneiform signs denotes an individual syllable. The Standard Inscription describes
the reign of Ashurnasirpal II, his role as the priest and ruler chosen by the gods, his royal lineage,
successful military campaigns, and the royal building activity in the city of Kalhu (Nimrud). Throughout the
text, Ashurnasirpal is lauded as the invincible ruler of Assyria, the king of the world. The translation that
follows is adapted from Samuel M. Paley, King of the World: Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria 883–859 B.C.
(New York: The Brooklyn Museum, 1976), pp. 125–44.
(Ashurnasirpal)
(The Great King)
18

[Location] The palace of Ashurnasirpal,
[Lineage of the King] chief priest of Ashur, the chosen one of Enlil and Ninurta, the favorite of Anu and
Dagan, the divine weapon of the Great Gods, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria;
the son of Tukulti-Ninurta, the great king, the potent king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria; the
son of Adad-nirari, the king of the world, the king of Assyria;
[The Heroic Warrior] the powerful warrior who always lived by [his trust] in Ashur, his lord; who has no
rival among the princes of the four quarters of the earth; [who is] the shepherd of his people, fearless in
battle, the overpowering tidewater who has no opponent; [who is] the king, subjugator of the
unsubmissive, who rules the total sum of all humanity; [who is] the potent warrior, who tramples his
enemies, who crushes all the adversaries; [who is] the disperser of the host of the haughty; [who is] the
king who always lived by [his] trust in the Great Gods, his lords; and captured all the lands himself, ruled
all their mountainous districts, [and] received their tribute; who takes hostages, who establishes victory
over all their lands.
[Summary of the Campaign] When Ashur, who selected me, who made my kingship great, entrusted his
merciless weapon into my lordly arms, I verily struck down the widespread troops of Lullumu with
weapons, during the battle encounter. As for the troops of the lands of Nairi, Habhu, Shubaru, and Nirbu,
I roared over them like Adad the destroyer, with the aid of Shamash and Adad, my helper gods. [I am] the
king who caused [the lands] from the other bank of the Tigris to the Lebanon and the Great Sea, the
whole of Laqu, and Suhu as far as Rapiqu, to submit; [who] himself conquered [the territory] from the
source of the Subnat River to Urartu; [who] annexed as my own territory [the area] from the pass of
Kirruru to Gilzanu, from the other bank of the Lower Zab to Til Bari which is upstream from Zaban, from
Til sha Abtani to Til sha Zabdani. I counted as my own people [those who occupy the territory] from the
pass of Babite to Hashmar. I set my resident [official]s in the lands over which I ruled [and imposed upon
them] obeisance and [forced labor].
[The King as Warrior and Protector of His People] [I am] Ashurnasirpal, the obedient prince, the
worshiper of the Great Gods, the fierce dragon, the conqueror of all cities and mountains to their full
extent, the king of rulers, who tames the dangerous enemies, the [one] crowned with glory, the [one]
unafraid of battle, the relentless lion, who shakes resistance, the king [deserving] of praise, the shepherd,
protection of the world, the king whose command blots out mountains and seas, who forced into
compliance the relentless, fierce kings from the east to the west at his very approach.
[The City] The former Kalhu, which Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, the lord my predecessor, built—that
city was dilapidated and deserted. I built that city anew. As for my own captives from the lands over which
I ruled—those from Suhu, the whole of Laqu, Sirqu which is on the opposite bank of the Euphratescrossing,
all Zamua, Bit Adini, and Hattu, and that of Lubarna of Hattina—I took and settled them therein.
I removed the ancient tell. I went down as far as the headwaters. I laid in 120 brick courses into the
depths. (From [the level of] the headwaters, I made a fill of 120 brick courses up to the top.)
[The Palace] I built thereon [a palace with] halls of cedar, cypress, juniper, boxwood, teak, terebinth, and
tamarisk [?] as my royal dwelling and for the enduring leisure life of my lordship. Beasts of the mountains
and the seas, which I had fashioned out of white limestone and alabaster, I had set up in its gates. I made
[the palace] fittingly imposing. I bordered them all around with bronze studs. I mounted doors of cedar,
cypress, juniper, and terebinth in its gates. Silver, gold, tin, bronze, iron, my own booty from the lands
over which I ruled, as much as possible, I brought [to the palace]; I placed it all therein.
19

Theology Elements of the Assyrian World:
1. A King who is a Priest: The union of two offices into one; note that in Egypt it was likewise. In
Israel, however, there was a separation of offices, even as the King was the great builder and
protector of the temple.
2. Winged Creatures to Guard the Entrance
3. Language that is Larger Than Life – Compare Isaiah 13.
Stop 6: Persepolis
The Persian Empire
Tribute bearers
Malachi 1: 6 A son honors his father, and servants their master. If then I am a father, where is the
honor due me? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the LORD of hosts to you,
O priests, who despise my name. You say, ―How have we despised your name?‖ 7 By offering
polluted food on my altar. And you say, ―How have we polluted it?‖ By thinking that the
LORD‘s table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not wrong?
And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not wrong? Try presenting that to your
governor; will he be pleased with you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts.
20

Achaemenid dynasty, 550–330 BC
1. Achaemenes, founder of the dynasty, king of Persia.
2. Teispes of Anshan, his son, king of Persia, king of Anshan, died 640.
3. Cyrus I of Anshan, son of Teispes, king of Anshan 640–580.
4. Cambyses I of Anshan, his son, king of Anshan 580–559.
5. Cyrus II the Great, his son, king of Anshan 559–529. He conquered the Median Empire in 550
and established the Persian Empire – established the Persian Empire and ruled it from 550–529.
Ezra 1: In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order that the word of the LORD
by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of
King Cyrus of Persia so that he sent a herald throughout all his kingdom, and also
in a written edict declared:
2 ―Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The
LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all
the kingdoms of the earth, and he has
charged me to build him a house at
Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Any of those among
you who are of his people—may their God
be with them!—are now permitted to go up
to Jerusalem in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of
Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem; 4 and let all survivors, in
whatever place they reside, be assisted by the people of their place with
silver and gold, with goods and with animals, besides freewill offerings
for the house of God in Jerusalem.‖
21

Isaiah 45: Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations
before him and strip kings of their robes, to open doors
before him— and the gates shall not be closed: 2 I will
go before you and level the mountains, I will break in
pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of
iron, 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and
riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that
it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your
name.
6. Cambyses II, his son, ruled 530–522.
7. Smerdis, his alleged brother, ruled 522.
8. Darius I the Great, son of Hystaspes, ruled 521–486. Builder of Persepolis
Ezra 4: 4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and made them
afraid to build, 5 and they bribed officials to frustrate their plan throughout the reign of
King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia.
HAGGAI: The Command to Rebuild the Temple – See also Ezra 5.1
Haggai 1:1 In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month,
the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of
Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: These
people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house. 3 Then the word of the Lord
came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 4 Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled
houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how
you have fared. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have
enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and
you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.
9. Xerxes I, his son, ruled 486–465.
10. Artaxerxes I Longimanus, son of Xerxes 1, ruled 464–424.
Esther 1:1 This happened in the days of Ahasuerus, the same Ahasuerus who ruled
over one hundred twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia. 2 In those days
when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, 3 in the third
year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers. The army of
Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were present, 4
while he displayed the great wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and pomp of
his majesty for many days, one hundred eighty days in all.
22

Rationale for identifying Artaxerxes in Esther:
Ahasuerus is given as the name of the King of Persia in the Book of Esther. He was
generally identified with Xerxes I of Persia, although this assumption is now rejected by
most scholars. The Greek version of the Book of Esther refers to him as Artaxerxes, and
the historian Josephus relates that this was the name by which he was known to the
Greeks.
Similarly, the Midrash of Esther Rabba, I, 3 identifies the King as Artaxerxes. The Ethiopic
text calls him Arťeksis, usually the Ethiopic equivalent of Artaxerxes.
Nehemiah 2 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when
wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never
been sad in his presence before. 2 So the king said to me, ―Why is your face sad, since
you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart.‖ Then I was very much
afraid. 3 I said to the king, ―May the king live forever! Why should my face not be
sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors‘ graves, lies waste, and its gates have
been destroyed by fire?‖ 4 Then the king said to me, ―What do you request?‖ So I
prayed to the God of heaven. 5 Then I said to the king, ―If it pleases the king, and if
your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of
my ancestors‘ graves, so that I may rebuild it.‖ 6 The king said to me (the queen also
was sitting beside him), ―How long will you be gone, and when will you return?‖ So
it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a date. 7 Then I said to the king, ―If it
pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the
River, that they may grant me passage until I arrive in Judah; 8 and a letter to Asaph,
the keeper of the king‘s forest, directing him to give me timber to make beams for the
gates of the temple fortress, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall
occupy.‖ And the king granted me what I asked, for the gracious hand of my God was
upon me.
9 Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and gave them
the king‘s letters. Now the king had sent officers of the army and cavalry with me. 10
When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard this, it
displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of
Israel.
11. Xerxes II, his son, ruled 424.
12. Sogdianus, his half-brother, ruled 424–423.
13. Darius II Nothus, his half-brother and rival, ruled 423–404.
14. Artaxerxes II Memnon, his son, ruled 404–358 (see also Xenophon).
23

15. Artaxerxes III Ochus, his son, ruled 358–338.
16. Artaxerxes IV Arses, his son, ruled 338–336.
17. Darius III Codomannus, great-grandson of Darius II, ruled 336–330.
18. Artaxerxes V Bessus, a usurper who murdered Darius and continued the resistance against
Alexander the Great from 330–329.
24

Nehemiah 9: 33 You have been just in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and
we have acted wickedly; 34 our kings, our officials, our priests, and our ancestors have not kept
your law or heeded the commandments and the warnings that you gave them. 35 Even in their
own kingdom, and in the great goodness you bestowed on them, and in the large and rich land
that you set before them, they did not serve you and did not turn from their wicked works. 36
Here we are, slaves to this day—slaves in the land that you gave to our ancestors to enjoy its fruit
and its good gifts. 37 Its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our
sins; they have power also over our bodies and over our livestock at their pleasure, and we are in
great distress.‖
Ezra 7 The Letter of Artaxerxes to Ezra
11 This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to the priest Ezra, the scribe, a
scholar of the text of the commandments of the LORD and his statutes for Israel: 12 ―Artaxerxes,
king of kings, to the priest Ezra, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven: Peace. And now 13 I
decree that any of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom who freely offers
to go to Jerusalem may go with you. 14 For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to
make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your
hand, 15 and also to convey the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely
offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, 16 with all the silver and gold that
you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and with the freewill offerings of the people
and the priests, given willingly for the house of their God in Jerusalem. 17 With this money, then,
you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, and their grain offerings and their drink
offerings, and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem. 18
Whatever seems good to you and your colleagues to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you
may do, according to the will of your God. 19 The vessels that have been given you for the
service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem. 20 And whatever
else is required for the house of your God, which you are responsible for providing, you may
provide out of the king‘s treasury.
21 ―I, King Artaxerxes, decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River:
Whatever the priest Ezra, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be
done with all diligence, 22 up to one hundred talents of silver, one hundred cors of wheat, one
hundred baths of wine, one hundred baths of oil, and unlimited salt. 23 Whatever is commanded
by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, or wrath will
come upon the realm of the king and his heirs. 24 We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to
impose tribute, custom, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the
temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.
25 ―And you, Ezra, according to the God-given wisdom you possess, appoint magistrates and
judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River who know the laws of
your God; and you shall teach those who do not know them. 26 All who will not obey the law of
your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on them, whether for death or
for banishment or for confiscation of their goods or for imprisonment.‖
26

Stop 7: Ptolemy
Alexander the Great rules the world. Following his death, there is a division of his kingdom
27

The Egyptian Kings after Alexander the Great
1. Ptolemy I Soter (305 BC-282 BC)
2. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (284 BC-246 BC)
Creator of the LXX – the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament
“The Septuagint or simply LXX, is the Koine Greek version of
the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the 3rd and
1st centuries BC in Alexandria. The Septuagint also includes
some books not found in the Hebrew Bible.”
Shown to the right: Codex Sinaiticus, Esther 2:3-8
3. Ptolemy III Euergetes (246 BC-222 BC)
4. Ptolemy IV Philopator (222 BC-204 BC)
“III Maccabees purports to record a persecution of the Jews in
Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy (IV.) Philopator (222-
204 B.C.). The Jews are assembled in the hippodrome, and 500
infuriated elephants are to be let loose upon them. In the event
the elephants turned against the persecutors, and the Jews not
only escaped, but were treated with much honor by the king.” – Jewish Encyclopedia
5. Ptolemy V Epiphanes (204 BC-180 BC) – Commemorated in the Rosetta Stone
28
THE DECREE: The high priests and
prophets, and those who enter the
inner shrine in order to robe the gods,
and those who wear the hawk's wing,
and the sacred scribes, and all the
other priests who have assembled at
Memphis before the king, from the
various temples throughout the
country, for the feast of his receiving
the kingdom, even that of Ptolemy the
ever-living, beloved by Ptah, the god
Manifest and Gracious, which he
received from his Father, being
assembled in the temple in Memphis
this day, declared: Since King Ptolemy,
the ever-living, beloved by Ptah, the
god Manifest and Gracious, the son of
King Ptolemy and Queen Arsinoë, the

Parent-loving gods, has done many benefactions to the temples and to those who dwell in
them, and also to all those subject to his rule, being from the beginning a god born of a god
and a goddess—like Horus, the son of Isis and Osirus, who came to the help of his Father
Osirus; being benevolently disposed toward the gods, has concentrated to the temples
revenues both of silver and of grain, and has generously undergone many expenses in order
to lead Egypt to prosperity and to establish the temples... the gods have rewarded him with
health, victory, power, and all other good things, his sovereignty to continue to him and his
children forever.
6. Ptolemy VI Philometor (180 BC-164 BC, 163 BC-145 BC)
Ruled during the Maccabeean Revolt (168-135)
“Ptolemy VI "Philometor" - his armies were defeated when Antiochus IV Epiphanes invaded
Egypt (1 Macc 1:16-19); he agreed to an alliance through the marriage of his daughter
Cleopatra II with Alexander Balas (1 Macc 10:51-66); he attempted to take over the Seleucid
territories, which ended in his own death and that of Alexander Balas (11:1-19); one of his
teachers was the Jewish priest Aristobulus (2 Macc 1:10); his territory provided refuge for
people fleeing from the Seleucids (2 Macc 9:29, explicitly names him "Ptolemy
Philometor").”
….
1 Maccabees 1: 16 When Antiochus saw that his kingdom was established, he
determined to become king of the land of Egypt, in order that he might reign over
both kingdoms. 17 So he invaded Egypt with a strong force, with chariots and
elephants and cavalry and with a large fleet. 18 He engaged King Ptolemy of Egypt
in battle, and Ptolemy turned and fled before him, and many were wounded and
fell. 19 They captured the fortified cities in the land of Egypt, and he plundered the
land of Egypt. 20 After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the one hundred
forty-third year [169 BC]. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with
a strong force. 21 He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar,
the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils.
1 Maccabees 10: 51 Then Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemy king of Egypt
with the following message: 52 ―Since I have returned to my kingdom and have
taken my seat on the throne of my ancestors, and established my rule—for I
crushed Demetrius and gained control of our country; 53 I met him in battle, and
he and his army were crushed by us, and we have taken our seat on the throne of
his kingdom— 54 now therefore let us establish friendship with one another; give
me now your daughter as my wife, and I will become your son-in-law, and will
make gifts to you and to her in keeping with your position.‖
55 Ptolemy the king replied and said, ―Happy was the day on which you
returned to the land of your ancestors and took your seat on the throne of their
29

kingdom. 56 And now I will do for you as you wrote, but meet me at Ptolemais, so
that we may see one another, and I will become your father-in-law, as you have
said.‖
57 So Ptolemy set out from Egypt, he and his daughter Cleopatra, and came to
Ptolemais in the one hundred sixty-second year [150 BC]. 58 King Alexander met
him, and Ptolemy gave him his daughter Cleopatra in marriage, and celebrated
her wedding at Ptolemais with great pomp, as kings do.
7. Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator (never reigned)
8. Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (Physcon) (170 BC-163 BC, 145 BC-116 BC) – see 1 Macc 15:15-21
Notes from the Catholic scholar, Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.
Note 1: the Books of the Maccabees mention several other people named "Ptolemy," apart from
the above rulers:
Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes (1 Macc 3:38); adviser to king Antiochus IV (2 Macc
4:45-46; 6:8); later becomes governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia (2 Macc 8:8);
probably the same person as:
Ptolemy, who was called Macron (2 Macc 10:12) - supports Antiochus IV during
his invasion of Cyprus 168 BC.
Ptolemy, son of Abubu (1 Macc 16:11); son-in-law of Simon Maccabeus; he kills
Simon and his sons Judas and Mattathias in 134 BC near Jericho (1 Lacc 16:11-18).
Ptolemy, son of Dositheus (Esther 11:1) - father and son together deliver a letter
about the events of Purim to people in Egypt.
Ptolemy, father of Lysimachus (Esther 11:1 - a resident of Jerusalem whose son
(Lysimachus) translated the aforementioned letter.
Note 2: there is also a city called "Ptolemais" - ancient Acco, renamed after the Ptolemies in
the 3rd cent. BC; an important port on the Mediterranean (just north of modern Haifa); citizens of
Ptolemais fought against the Maccabees and were generally hostile against the Jews (see 1 Macc
5:15, 22, 55; 10:1, 39, 56-60; 11:22-24; 12:45-48; 13:21; 2 Macc 6:8(var.); 13:24-25); in the midfirst
century AD, Paul visits Ptolemais, where there are already some Christians (Acts 21:7).
9. Cleopatra II Philometora Soteira (131 BC-127 BC)
10. Cleopatra III Philometor Soteira Dikaiosyne Nikephoros (Kokke) (116 BC-101 BC)
11. Ptolemy IX Soter II (Lathyros) (116 BC-107 BC, 88 BC-81 BC as Soter II)
12. Ptolemy X Alexander I (107 BC-88 BC)
13. Berenice III Philopator (81 BC-80 BC)
14. Ptolemy XI Alexander II (80 BC)
15. Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos (Auletes) (80 BC-58 BC, 55 BC-51 BC) married Cleopatra V
Tryphaena
16. Cleopatra V Tryphaena (58 BC-57 BC)
17. Cleopatra VII Thea Neotera (51 BC-30 BC), Queen of Egypt,
30

Stop 8: Hadrian (117-138) and Bar Kochba (ruled AD 132-136)
Augustus 27BC - AD 14
Tiberius 14-37
Gaius 37-41
Claudius 41-54
Nero 54-68
Galba 68
Otho 69
Vitellius 69
Vespasian 69-79
Titus 79-81
Domitian 81-96
Nerva 96-98
Trajan 98-117
Hadrian 117-38
Antonius Pius 139-61
Marcus Aurelius 161-80
Lucius Verus 161-69
Commodus 180-92
Pertinax 193
Didius Julianus 193
Septimius Severus 193-211
Caracalla 198-217
Macrinus 217-18
Elagabalus 218-22
Severus Alexander 222-35
Maximinius 235-38
31
Gordian I and II 238
Balbinus and Pupienus 238
Gordian III 238-44
Philip 244-49
Decius 249-51
Gallus 251-53
Aemilianus 253
Valerian 253-60
Gallienus 253-68
Claudius II Gothicus 268-70
Quintillus 270
Aurelian 270-75
Tacitus 275-76
Florianus 276
Probus 276-82
Carus 282-83
Numerianus 283-84
Carinus 283-85
Diocletian 284-305
Maximian 286-305
Constantius 305-06
Galerius 305-11
Severus 306-07
Licinius 308-24
Maximinus Daia 310-13
Constantine 306-37

Matthew 24:4 Jesus answered them, “Beware that no one leads
you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the
Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of
wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this
must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines
and earthquakes in various places: 8 all this is but the beginning of
the birth pangs.
Luke 21:20 “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by
armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21
Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those
inside the city must leave it, and those out in the country
must not enter it; 22 for these are days of vengeance, as a
fulfillment of all that is written. 23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are
nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against
this people; 24 they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among
all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the
Gentiles are fulfilled
32

The Church and the Epoch of Emperors and Rival Politics:
Acts 17: 6 When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before
the city authorities, shouting, ―These people who have been turning the world upside
down have come here also, 7 and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting
contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.‖ 8
The people and the city officials were disturbed when they heard this,
Stop 9: Carcalla (22 nd Emperor, Reigned 209-217)
Ruled in the time of Tertullian (160 – 220), son of a centurion.
33
(Carcalla) Denarius
Obverse Legend: ANTONINVS
PIVS AVG
Obverse: Draped and laureate
bust right
Reverse Legend: PART MAX
PONT TR P IIII
Reverse: A trophy with two
captives seated at its base

Stop 10: Severus Alexander (26 th Emperor, ruled 222 – 235)
Gave the Severus Scroll (taken from Jerusalem by Titus) to the Synagogue in Rome, see Genesis Rabbati.
Stop 11: Being a Body vs. Being Remembered
Death and Burial in the Greek and Roman World
Muse means: the one who remembers. They are the daughters of the titan Mnemosyne who
is the personification of remembrance. All nine muses have a science or an art to protect.
Cleo protects the stories of heroes, Urania astronomy, Calliope elegies, Melpomene the
tragedies, Euterpe flute playing, Erato love poems, Tepsicore choir lyrics, Thalia the
comedies and Polyhymnia dance and music.
34
Calliope was the muse of
epic poetry.
Clio was the muse of history.
Erato was the muse of love
poetry.
Euterpe was the muse of
music.
Melpomene was the muse of
tragedy.
Polyhymnia was the muse of
sacred poetry.
Terpsichore was the muse of
dance.
Thalia was the muse of
comedy.
Urania was the muse of
astronomy.

Stop 12: Nelson-Atkins as a collection of stories
Story vs. Stories
A Big Story vs. Postmodernism (the next story)
Christians in a world of stories rejecting a single story
There can be no story without a story-teller. God is the story teller, and a museum collection is only
haphazard when there is no thesis or theme emanating from a divine Creator telling his story. The
museum is otherwise meaningless – a collection of circumstantial events sequentially related only by the
fact that they are sequential. To reject a coherent story is to revert to a chaotic collection of amassed
bits of data that are interesting by undirected. However, we know from Scripture that out of Chaos
there is an order. The Creator was telling his story, and his story is history.
Compare the philosophy of the modern art collection where
the canard 1 is that there are disconnected facts that have no
relationship. The theology of the modern artist is a nontheology
that turns out to be a pointless, guideless tour of
interesting but meaningless collections in a museum. This
degraded view of history, however, comes into direct conflict
with the Biblical story that emerges out of the collected
material of the Nelson-Atkins. And in the end, a guide is a
meaningful attendant as the treasures of God’s story are expounded with great ease. Order is found.
The Story is True.
1 A canard is a French word for duck, often meaning a deliberately false story (from an old French idiom about halfselling
a duck). Nancy Cunard was a British political activist and writer. Finding meaning out of abstract
forms, the Nelson writest this, “Through nuance and extreme simplification of form, Brancusi’s portrait of
Cunard communicates a spirit and elegance that would not have been possible in a literal translation of her
features.” Was the French sculptor’s nearly meaningless block of wood a canard on the art community that
finds meaning in abstract post-modern productions?
35

Stop 13: Bonus Stop. Go Upstairs and Find this Photo
“Painted by Frederic Edwin Church, American, 1826-1900. Title: Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, 1870
Oil on canvas. Unframed: 54 1/4 x 84 3/8 inches (137.8 x 214.31 cm) Framed: 6 feet 10 7/8 inches x 9 feet
6 inches x 6 inches (210.49 x 289.56 x 15.24 cm).
The only formal pupil of Thomas Cole, Frederic Church raised landscape painting to new heights of grandeur
and melodrama throughout the third quarter of the 19th century. Church’s monumental and
dramatic Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives shows the Holy City on the distant horizon. It is situated in the
midst of a panoramic landscape and beneath an expansive sky filled with heavy clouds that seem to pull
back like stage curtains at the beginning of a performance. Anonymous travelers look on in the foreground
and serve as surrogates for actual viewers of the painting. Near the center of the composition sits one of the
city’s most important structures, the Dome of the Rock. Many other identifiable sites can be seen both
within and outside Jerusalem’s ancient walls.
Church maintained that Jerusalem was the best picture he ever painted. When the painting was given a solo
showing at Goupil’s Gallery in New York in 1871, spectators flocked to see it, often forming six rows of
people at a time and using opera glasses to see the astonishing details more clearly. Church published a
pictorial key so that the painting’s admirers could locate sacred sites as well as appreciate Jerusalem’s
accuracy.” 2
Significance: This is what Jerusalem looked like before modern times. This is closer to what the ancient
world knew compared to what we experience today.
2 Quoted from the Nelson web site on the painting.
36