Conquerors Activities

Hebrew Feast and Harvest Calendar Wheel 

We began with a calendar craft taken from Old Testament Days. Very simple, we merely made a copy of a chart included in the book and after cutting it out, glued it on a paper plate. He hole-punched the rim to make holes to attach the yarn, and then coloured in the Hebrew months, seasons, and feasts corresponding to our calendar months.

We discussed the similarities and differences between our modern calendar system and that of the ancient Hebrews.

The first key difference is that the Hebrew calendar is a Lunar model, based on the cycles of the moon, whereas we base ours on the sun. The Hebrews had festivals to celebrate the "New Moons" at the start of each new month.
The Hebrew's year also began at a different time than ours, in the middle of March in the month of Nissan. Passover was the important feast celebrated that month in remembrance of God's deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt.
 Like our current calendar, the ancient Hebrews used a twelve month system, with 30 days in a month, approximately the same as today.

We talked about how the Israelites were supposed to continue to observe these feasts prescribed in the Law of Moses once they were in the land, lest they forget who delivered them from Egypt, who protected and cared for them for forty years in the wilderness, and who delivered the Canaanites into their hands when taking the Promised Land.

We enjoyed figuring out which months were which and when all the festivals would have taken place on our calendar. We referred to the calendar wheel throughout the year as we read through the Biblical account of both the conquest and settlement of Canaan.

Model of an Ancient Israeli Dwelling

   
      When the children of Israel entered the promise land with Joshua, they inherited houses and vineyards already planted and built. The cities often had to be rebuilt, but from archeological sources, it appears that the style of house utilized by the Israelites was heavily influenced by the existing structures built by the earlier inhabitants of the land; it was probably natural to copy the local architecture.


      Up to this point in Israel's history, they had been a nation of tent dwellers, nomads who rented parcels of land for a period of time before moving on. The establishment of the tribes into lands that would be their continuing inheritance for all generations was a monumental point in time. This was the "promised land", the specifically designated boundary placed by God for His chosen people to dwell in.

 
 We read how the Israelites lived and kept house, and following a plan from the book, Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbors, we built a model house in miniature.  According the book, this style of house was the most common, and archaeologists have two different names for them: they call them "pillared houses," because pillars replaced one or two inside walls, and "four-room houses," because most had four main rooms on the ground floor.

     "The Israelites built most of their houses by stacking rough stones and mud bricks into walls and then using mud to hold the walls together. Branches, wood beams, and brush topped with more mud formed the roofs." [Israelite Architecture, pg. 9, Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbors]

     We used a cardboard box, which we then cut to specifications included in the book, as well as the interior walls and pillars. Salem painted the whole house, inside and out: walls, doors, lintels, and rooftop flap, to resemble a mud hut with wooden doors and frames. 

He then cut out the doors and glued the walls into the box. Salem created a packed dirt floor by cutting sandpaper to fit and glueing it inside the house. For the pillars, he took pieces of poster paper and rolled it into a tube, which he stuffed with cotton balls and glue.  The cobblestone floor of the stable was made with modelling clay and fish tank pebbles, which he pressed into the clay. This done, all that was left to do was decorate!

Salem first gathered countless mini wild grasses going to seed, which he cut and bundled in twine to resemble wheat stalks.

Then he cut out fabric scraps for rugs, sleeping mats, and storage bundles. The storage bundles were made by spooning wheat germ into the middle of the circular scraps, and gathering up the edges to form a little "bag", which he secured with twine.

He also used modelling clay to create a kiln oven, which would have sat in the open roofed courtyard, for ventilation, as well as a mortar and pestle, piece of flat bread, and a bowl, which he filled with clay fruits resembling lemon and grapes. He even made a water melon out of clay! With a few other accessories, including wine barrels, a tera cotta water pitcher, straw field hat, and glazed bowl, this model pillared house would have made any ancient Israelite proud! There are even family pets, livestock, and vermin included in the model.

The rooftop level would have been used for storage, threshing grain, and sleeping when the weather permitted. As there were little to no windows in most one level dwellings in Israel, the rooftop would have been the preferred place to be, away from the animal smells, cooking smells, and heat of the interior house.

The stairs to the roof were actually outside, with a ladder used for ascent inside the home. The courtyard was the primary place of use for the family, being the centre of cooking, crafts, and eating.

If a dwelling happened to have an interior upper level, this area would have been used for sleeping, dining, weaving, and entertaining. The whole house would have had an open area in the ceiling and roof above the ground level courtyard, to let in light and fresh air.

Salem and I had a wonderful creating this craft, and look forward to next year's model building.



Israelite Warrior Armoured Tunic

Another excellent project from Old Testament Days, the armoured vest is a variation on the Sojourners craft, Isaac's Tunic. The project was simple and sweet. First we found an old pillowcase and cut a neck hole and arm holes from of the seamed end. Then, we spent about two months collecting enough milk cartons (milk and cookies, everyone... again!) to make the armoured "plates" to attach to the pillowcase tunic.  Using the template provided in the book, Salem traced and cut out 18 armoured plates from the milk jugs and punched holes in them. Then, double threading the needle, he sewed the plates onto the tunic. Thats it!
We read in the book how the Israelites, prior to entering the land had been desert nomads, living off manna and under the cloud of God's presence. They had perviously been slaves. They were not soldiers or warriors, and likely had no armour or weapons. They would have had to fashion their own from what they had, so many would have cast metal into scales that could be sewn into their clothing, like chain mail armour of the medieval period and others would have baked clay into hard tile plates for the same purpose. Either way, it would have been a homemade job and probably very heavy and cumbersome.
Whatever the Israelites used for weapons and armour, in the end mattered little, for God was on their side as long as they obeyed Him, and no one could defeat them, so matter how great they were. Well equipped, trained armies could not fight against the God of Hosts and His chosen people!


Ancient Hebrew Writing on Potsherds

Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbours had another wonderful craft idea we used this year.