Fascination with Ancient Pottery from the Holy Land

I admit it.  I am obsessed with all things from Judea that are at least 2000 years old.  Recently in my store, Osmun Gifts, I added some pottery jugs and jars.  These are clay replicas of items that have been found in the Holy Land from various archeological sites.  Why do I like them?  Because for me they give me a sense of reality, a tangible object that I can touch and know that early Christians, ancient Jewish civilizations, and even Jesus touch objects such as these.  They make the Bible come alive for me.

When I read Luke 22:10, He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters,” I can look at my juglet, my small jug and know exactly what the man was carrying.  I also have a sense of how heavy that must have been.  Clay jugs weigh a lot.  My little 6 inch juglet weighs 12 ounces.  This jug mentioned in the scripture would have weighted probably 8 pounds or so empty.  Fill it up with water and you have a hefty load to bear.   My juglet while not used for carrying water from the well though was used to store liquids.  Maybe goat milk, maybe cooking oil, I can only imagine.  Maybe for even teaching a child how to draw water from a well.

Or John 4:28-29, Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Water was precious so very precious in these desert lands.  One didn’t walk away from the well and the water jug.  These wells were not like the wells in the U.S. in the colonial times.  These were holes in the ground and they were few and far between.  One had to carry a rope with them, tie it to the jug, lower the jug and then draw it up full of water.   I can see the jar that the Samaritan woman left unattended, forgotten in her excitement of meeting the Messiah.

These small objects of everyday living serve a purpose today.  They provide us with a tangible link to the past, the Holy past, a time when such people as David, Ruth, Abraham, Sarah, and Jesus walked the earth.

They are visual and tactile aid to the Bible for me.  Do you have anything that helps you understand and comprehend books of the Bible or history in general?

Replica of 2 handled water jug

Tags: ancient pottery, clay pottery from Holy Land, Holy Land pottery