This is, of course, a very short list. The long list consists of not only the most canonical artists such as the ones listed above, but thousands of lesser know, sometimes local or anonymous artists depicting biblical scenes in their paintings, statues, woodwork or any other art form. Many modern artists also choose the bible as the main theme for their work, and one may find a lot websites dealing with modern biblical art and artists. While most the new biblical artwork is made by and sold to Christian and Jewish art collectors worldwide, in the past this was not necessarily the case. Famous artwork was often commissioned merely for its artistic value, such as the Statue of David by Michelangelo. The statue was indeed commissioned by the Florence Cathedral, but was to be admired publicly by all citizens of Florence.

Made during the Renaissance the statue of David was just one of many artistic culminations of that period. But other periods in history, recent history included, saw the creation of many other masterpieces with biblical influences.

Well known themes in Christian bible art

Christian artwork often depicts scenes from the New Testament and related themes. Many paintings include the images of Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary, winged angles, heaven or hell and many other repeating motifs.

Jewish Biblical art Themes

One of the most commonly repeated themes in Jewish are is the splitting of the sea by Moses (Crossing of the Red Sea), while escaping from Egypt. This particular theme is also the subject of many Judaica artifacts related to Passover. Another favorite subject in Jewish are is Noah’s Ark.

There are many similar first names and the list below represents a sample of the most common ones.

List of first names and their pronunciation in English

Moses

Moses is most widely described in the Hebrew bible as prophet and as the leader who rescued the ancient Israelites from the Egyptian enslavers and after 40 years in the dessert died without getting into the Promised Land. Moses is also well described in both the Christian New Testament and the Islamic Quran.

Pronunciation:

Hebrew: Mosh’e (Mo-sh-e)

English: Moses

Arabic: Musa

Abraham

Perceived to be the father, or at least one of the fathers, of the Abrahamic religions primarily Judaism and Islam.  Abraham also appears on some Christian writings.

Pronunciation:

Hebrew: Avraham

English: Abraham

Arabic: Ibrahim

David

David was the second king of the ancient kingdom of Israel and together with King Solomon; he is one of the most influential Hebrew biblical characters in current days. David is also a key figure in both the New Testament and the Quran.

Pronunciation:

Hebrew: Da’vid (Da-vi-d)

English: David

Arabic: Daud (Da-ood)

The three names above appear to be most common names shared by the 3 Abrahamic religions, but many others exist, some with great pronunciation differences the bare no resemblance to the original name.

see more here

In many Christian oriented countries and languages, the names of Passover and Easter are synonymous, suggesting how closely related they really are.

These two Christian and the Hebrew holidays also occur on very similar dates, usually sometime in March or April.

Easter Sunday 2011 date: April 24

Passover Eve 2011: Monday, April 18

Fun and facts

More on Passover

More on Easter

Passover printable coloring pages

Easter printable coloring pages

Biblical Love Quotes

Have a happy holiday.

These are just common questions many other exist including such examples as what is the difference between the many Jewish religious sects: Orthodox, Hasidic, Conservative, Reform and other Jewish streams all having slightly different religion views and often rival one another in more ways then one.

All the questions raised here are not unique to the Jewish religion. Most religions worldwide are divided into many different sects that while common sense dictate should get along, that is not always the case.

This blog is not about religious provocations and disputes, so I will this subject be for now and focus on numbers: the division of Israel’s population into religious and secular by percentage.

There are approximately 5.6 million Jews in Israel, amongst which:

• Around 17% of all Jewish Israelis regards themselves as religious belonging to one of the sects described earlier.
• 39% more define themselves as believers or traditional Jews.
• 44% of the population is believed to be secular

Among the secular sector, only a minor percentage defines itself as opposing religion – which is a fact correlating with other religions as well. Most countries see a rise in the number of religious people – in almost any existent religion today, Christianity and Islam more than others.

Below is the list of the 20 most popular baby names in Israel for 2010 /2011 and I marked the names with biblical origins.

Top 20 boy names in Israel

1. Noam
2. Itay (Pronounced EE-tt-aa-i)
3. Uri (Biblical origins, pronounced OO-rr-ee)
4. Daniel (Biblical origins)
5. David (Biblical origins)
6. Yehonathan (biblical origins, meaning “God gave”)
7. Joseph (Biblical origins)
8. Ido (Pronounced EE-dd-oo)
9. Moses (Biblical origins)
10. Ariel (Biblical origins)
11. Yair (Pronounced Y-a-ee-r)
12. Yonatan (Biblical origins)
13. Abraham (Biblical origins)
14. Itamar (Biblical origins)
15. Guy
16. Yehuda ((Biblical origins)
17. Nehorai (Not a biblical name, taken from the Mishna as explained here)
18. Israel (Biblical origins)
19. Amit
20. Omer

Top 20 boy names in Israel

1. Noa (Biblical origins)
2. Shira
3. Maya
4. Tamar (Biblical origins)
5. Yael (Biblical origins)
6. Talya
7. Sara (Biblical origins)
8. Hila / Helah (Biblical origins)
9. Noya
10. Michal (Biblical origins)
11. Maayan (Biblical origins)
12. Ron (Biblical origins)
13. Rivka (Biblical origins)
14. Adi
15. Leeann
16. Ella (Biblical origins)
17. Rachel (Biblical origins)
18. Hodaya
19. Avigial (Biblical origins)
20. Lia

The amount of holy places, burial sites and locations is truly enormous, most are of minor importance and seldom see more then a handful of visitors while others a renowned worldwide and visited by hundreds of thousands each year.

Each religion has its own list of most holy places in Israel, and as you probably know: many of them are located in Jerusalem or the Jerusalem area. Other important parts of Israel include the north of the country – where you can find the city of Nazareth, Tiberias and the Jordan River. In the center of Israel you can find famous holy sites and historical landmarks such as the Roman aqueduct and the old city of Caesarea, a good number of ancient mosques along the beaches and the city of Jaffa with its rich heritage and number of holy places for Christians and Muslims.

The south of Israel – the Negev, mostly a desert area, is of lesser importance to the religious traveler, though for those who have the time – it also offers its share of holy spot for the 3 religions. Most sites in the Negev are older than the ones found elsewhere in the country and depict the historical events of the bible as they occurred. The Negev desert, together with the Judean desert near Jerusalem, is home to some of the most exciting historical findings in recent history, Qumran scrolls being the most noteworthy, and an ancient Roman statue being the latest finding with historical value.

Most bible atlases are bought as gifts and as such, these books have highly decorative covers, informative color drawings and plenty of maps that illustrate various elements of the bible. Some bible atlases also include further DVD extensions for comfortably viewing on TV or a computer and some even come accompanied by recordings of actual bible verses when appropriate.

This luxurious atlases doesn’t always with a hard to bare price tag, and many are sold for 50$ or less, making them the perfect gift for any bible believer, whether Jewish or Christian.

The Hebrew Bible is divided into three main sections, each containing their respective books:

Three sections of the Hebrew bible and their respective books

Section 1:  Torah

1. Bereishit
2. Shemot
3. Vayikra
4. Bamidbar
5. Devarim

Section 2: Nevi’im (Prophets)

1st Sub Section: First Prophets

1. Joshua
2. Judges
3. Samuel 1
4. Samuel 2
5. Kings A
6. Kings B

2nd Sub Section: Last Prophets

1. Isaiah
2. Jeremiah
3. Ezekiel
4. Trei Asar – Twelve shorter prophecy books combined to one:
   1. Hosea
   2. Joel
   3. Amos
   4. Obadiah
   5. Jonah
   6. Micah
   7. Nahum
   8. Habakkuk
   9. Zephaniah
   10. Haggai
   11. Zechariah
   12. Malachi

Section 3: Ketuvim

1. Tehillim
2. Mishlei
3. Job
4. Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs)
5. Megillat Esther (The Scroll of Esther)
6. Megillat Ruth (The Scroll of Ruth)
7. Eicha
8. Kohelet
9. Daniel
10. Ezra and Nehemiah
11. Chronicles
12. Book of Daniel
13. Ezra
14. Divrey Hayamim

This is it, you can learn about the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee , Jerusalem, know every detail, study the maps, read the books, but nothing can be compared to visiting the actual historic site. Only after you stroll Jerusalem alleys, visit the temple mount, you will understand what holiness is, and what a religious passion is. Only when you will climb the Snake Path to Messada, you will realize what siege and rebellion are. Only a visit in Qumran and the ancient sect Essenes site will tell what the Judea desert feels like and how devoted a believer can be.

I myself visited Israel in different occasions. A visit to this small country is nothing similar to anywhere else. Each stone, each rock, route and a person is connected to the bible story in some way or another. And since we are dealing with sources of knowledge – I wanted to recommend one source that made for me the difference –

In my first visit to Israel, which was the visit that I become passionate about bible study, I met an incredible personality that made my visit so interesting and resourceful. He connected the past with the present and provided intriguing knowledge about every step of the trip. His name is Miki Ermann he is a tour guide that provide guides in English and German. In my following visits I met different tour guides, most of them where very good – to some I connected and some less, but Miki was the one that opened the door to this important part of the puzzle.

In the past, I was discouraged to enter those websites, since I was drawn back from people that approach knowledge from the perspective of truth. Means that when I come to study the bible I want to discover what the truth is. The religious approach presents the truth and teaches us the bible in real light.

Today, as a grown up individual I really like these kind of sites. The religious enthusiasm that approaches the things on a spiritual level makes these sites an asset. As in any thing, things need to be correlated with different information, but surely there is valuable information at least to challenge the learner to find the correct information. One of those sites is biblestudy.org – a site with many articles that focus on the new testimony bible.