In the news
We are very blessed this month to have an article about the work go out in a Christian newspaper called Challenge: The Good News Paper. Click to enlarge the image
August newsletter
(Apologies if you are a blog only follower, I sent this out to the email list but forgot to cross post here til now, doh)
Sneak peek at the Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is now printed and in the hands of our Kickstarter backers. You can preview and preorder your copy now at https://wordforwordbiblecomic.com/free-preview
In this image is the one side of the Apadana (Great Hall) at the Palace of Susa. The colour of the columns and decoration fits the most recent finds at the site. In this scene, the King entertains his many royal guests at a great banquet.
Endorsement
Here is a new endorsement for the Book of Esther from history expect and consultant on the project Prof. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones which features on the back cover of the book.
Supporting the Word for Word Bible Comic
Many of you who I meet face-to-face are keen to support the project to help to keep going and reach more people. Here is a way a you can do this.
Become a Patron
In order to make it to March 2020 without a Kickstarter, we need your help and so we'd love you consider becoming a monthly patron of the comic!
Aside from supporting us financially, you will get access to pages before anyone, be part of the creative process and be invited to Patreon exclusive video conferences where we discuss various elements of the projects and really make a difference to the project.
https://www.patreon.com/WordforWordBibleComic
PS. In the image, you can see that with the new patrons recently we've climbed another place in the "bible" search top of the pops. Even $1 patrons help us climb the ranking.
Events
Creation Fest
Last week we went to Creation Fest in Cornwall and met many of you there! We had a good time, despite being a little disappointed in the volume of footfall within the exhibition space. We were staying in our little caravan and so had to run home before the last day due to the extreme weather warning and high winds forecast in the area at the time.
Commission: Together at Westpoint
From August 22nd-26th, we will be at Westpoint in Exeter. Again many of you on this mailing list will be there so please come along and have a chat and bring a friend to see the comics.
Comic Cons
I have just applied for London MCM comic con and am praying we get a place this year. I also really wanted to exhibit at Thought Bubble in November but at the moment I haven't made the cut so please I'm also praying I can get in there.
Progress
Now that Esther is complete I have begun work on Matthew, you'll see this chart fill up on the newsletter, I'll tell you more about it closer to the date of the Kickstarter in March.
Matthew's Gospel is going to be a monster in size. The Gospel of Mark had 153 comic pages, but Matthew will have over 220 comic pages plus info pages and covers!
Prayer
Please ask God to help us assemble an awesome prayer team to get good spiritual guidance for the project and how He will use it in the years to come.
Next month is the launch of Esther please pray there is a good uptake and magazines and media outlets will help us get the word out.
Were the guards at Jesus' Tomb Roman Soldiers or Temple Guards?
If you’ve watched a film of the death and resurrection of Christ you will probably have seen Roman soldiers protecting the tomb, like the excellent film Risen which I’d highly recommend. But were the guards actually Romans?
The text doesn’t say they were Roman soldiers* and some of the details put this in question.
(* By Roman Soldiers, this includes the local auxiliary troops for the Empire not just Italian born Legionnaires)
The tomb guards are only featured in Matthew’s gospel. This is the section, with emboldened text on the relevant parts. Matthew 27:62-28:15
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
[…]
While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Reasons to think they may be Romans
Roman Auxiliary
The request for the tomb to be guarded goes to Pilate, he agrees and gives the order for it to be guarded. (27:62-66)
The tomb is sealed and it is assumed that this is an imperial seal, which would be applied by the Romans. (27:66)
They are called ‘soldiers’ (στρατιώταις) not just ‘the guard’ (κουστωδίας)
Reasons to think they may be Temple Guards
Temple Guard
When Jesus is resurrected the guards report first to the chief priests and not to Pilate (28:11)
The chief priest bribe the guards to lie. While it’s possible they may have bribed Roman soldiers, bribing your own employees to lie to the Roman Governor is more likely than bribing a Roman soldier to betray his own officer to benefit the priests. Particularly if we consider the punishment that would likely be attached to such a betrayal (28:12-13)
The chief priests say they will intercede for the guards if the governor does find out. If they were Roman soldiers caught lying to their Roman officers/governor how would the priest have any sway in the matter. (28:14)
Pilate gives the order to secure the tomb he says “You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you can” which is ambiguous as to whether he is saying to them they they have their own resources and have permission to get on with it, or if he is saying “you now have a guard.” (Matt 27:65)
We know from Roman sources that a roman soldier who fell asleep on duty could be sentenced to death. Considering the lie to be told is that the people they were posted to protect against came while we were asleep on duty and stole the very thing they were there to protect, it seems likely this would be the case. So receiving gold for this lie doesn’t seem very compelling, for a Roman if a death sentence would be the result. If they were Temple guards however, the Governor would be annoyed but not automatically have the authority to sentence them to death.
In other sources
Head of helmeted Roman auxiliary, AD113
In the extra-canonical Gospel of Peter, which is not to be held in the same status as the biblical text but an early historical source none the less, dated to around the early second century the guards are clearly Roman:
But Pilate gave over to them Petronius the centurion with soldiers to safeguard the sepulcher. And with these the elders and scribes came to the burial place. And having rolled a large stone, all who were there, together with the centurion and the soldiers, placed it against the door of the burial place. And they marked it with seven wax seals; and having pitched a tent there, they safeguarded it. (Apocryphal Gospel of Peter verse 31 and 32)
What do you think?
This is normally where one would find a conclusion, but it seems uncertain. I am keen to hear your thoughts on the matter. What is clear though is that the assumption that the night watch men were Roman troops is not so cut and dry. This is not a matter of deep spiritual significance, of course, but as we have to draw them in the Word for Word Bible Comic it’s a matter we need to consider.
Edit: Conclusion
This is an edit made 10 months after the original post, as I am about to draw the scene. Thanks to everyone who commented! I believe I will opt for drawing the gaurds as Roman Soldiers. The main reason is that they are called Soldiers in some verses, which doesn’t well describe the Temple guard as they are not part of an army. In addition, despite the fact that I think it’s strange that they reported to the High Priest first (rather than Pilate), I have now thought that perhaps they did this is because the reason they “became like dead men” was that they encountered an angel. Perhaps they thought that if the High Priest knew an angel from Heaven was involved they would not mind that their Messiah (or demigod in Roman eyes) had been taken away or risen from the dead.
Lastly, the apocryphal gospel of Peter states that they were Romans, and while it does not have any spiritual authority, it is still an account written close to the time by someone and for an audience who could well be familiar with the facts of the situation.
How long is the journey from Babylon to Bethlehem? How old was Jesus when they got there?
I'm trying to figure out roughly how old was Jesus when the Magi arrived? One of the key factors could be considered to be that they saw the star of his birth and then travelled to Jerusalem, where they tell Herod about it (Matt 2:7) and then went on to Bethlehem.
The Magi came from the East, it is believed from Babylon, so how long does it take to travel the distance. From Google Maps you can see the distance is about 1,150km.
In Ezra 7:9 we learn, Ezra's entourage (probably included children and elderly people) took four months to travel from Babylon to Jerusalem.
It's likely the Magi's caravan would have taken a little less time but they may have had to delay a while to prepare for the journey, so a few months certainly gives us a good idea.
This actually ties in with the fact that Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem for at least 40 days, until the end of Mary's 'purification'. (Luke 2:22). It seems that the couple stayed on a Bethlehem for a while, surrounded, as they would have been, by Joseph's family.
The other factor is that after discovering the time the Magi saw the star, King Herod orders children under 2 to be killed in and around Bethlehem. (Matt 2:16)
So, it seems from this baby Jesus would have been between a minimum or about 4 months and a maximum of 2 years old.
To me, Herod's paranoia is likely the element making this net wider rather than the Magi's delay in coming. This and the fact that in the chronology of Jesus' birth, Herod being alive is a factor that already moves the birth date back into what we call BC years. If Herod is alive not only for the birth but 2 years later for the 'massacre of the innocents', it would push the date of Jesus' birth back another 2 years.
So in conclusion, in the comic I believe I will draw Jesus looking about 6-9 months old.
I wrote this Blog before drawing the comic but now the comic is complete, so here are some of the images from the Gospel of Matthew.
You can buy a copy of the Gospel of Matthew: Word for Word Bible Comic: NIV here
Please feel free to comment if you have any insight or wisdom on the topic. Thanks
More OF OUR Blogs on similar topics:
Who were the Magi that visited Jesus?https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/who-were-the-magi-who-came-to-see-jesus
Was Jesus born in a Stable?
https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/was-jesus-born-in-an-a-stable-or-a-guest-room
Why is Luke and Matthew’s genealogy different? https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/why-does-jesus-genealogy-in-luke-differ-from-matthew
What prophecies did Jesus fulfil by his birth?
https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/what-prophecies-did-jesus-fulfil-by-his-birth
Who were the Shepherds at Jesus’ Birth https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/who-were-the-shepherds-that-came-to-see-baby-jesus
Who was King Herod? https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/who-was-king-herod-from-the-nativity-story
What year was Jesus Born? https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/what-year-was-jesus-born
Was Jesus born on December 25?
https://wordforwordbiblecomic.squarespace.com/blog/was-jesus-born-on-december-25
Susa and the inscription of Darius I
The Palace at Susa: From the Book of Esther: Word for Word Bible Comic
Located in the lower Zagros Mountains in Iran, the modern town of Shush is located on the site of ancient Susa/Shushan, mentioned in the Books of Esther, Daniel, Nehemiah and Jubilees and "The Persians" a Greek tragedy from 472BC that is the oldest surviving play in the history of theatre.
Image 1: Map
In the Achaemenid period, Darius the Great commissioned a palace to be built in both Susa and Persepolis. The two palaces have a great deal of similarity, so the missing elements from excavations of Susa are hypothesised from its better-preserved sister palace. In Susa, a famous inscription written in Old Persian, Babylonian and Elamite languages has been discovered upon many fragments in marble, clay and glazed tiles.
In this text Darius tells how he built the royal palace of Susa and imported products from all over his empire.
This palace which I built at Susa, from afar its ornamentation was brought. Downward the earth was dug, until I reached rock in the earth. When the excavation had been made, then rubble was packed down, some 40 cubits in depth, another part 20 cubits in depth. On that rubble the palace was constructed. And that the earth was dug downward, and that the rubble was packed down, and that the sun-dried brick was molded, the Babylonian people performed these tasks.
The cedar timber, this was brought from a mountain named Lebanon. The Assyrian people brought it to Babylon; from Babylon the Carians and the Yaunâ [=Greeks] brought it to Susa. The yakâ-timber was brought from Gandara and from Carmania.
The gold was brought from Lydia and from Bactria, which here was wrought. The precious stone lapis lazuli and carnelian which was wrought here, this was brought from Sogdia. The precious stone turquoise, this was brought from Chorasmia, which was wrought here.
The silver and the ebony were brought from Egypt. The ornamentation with which the wall was adorned, that from Yaunâ was brought. The ivory which was wrought here, was brought from Kush and from India and from Arachosia.
The stone columns which were here wrought, a village named Abirâdu, in Elam - from there were brought. The stone-cutters who wrought the stone, those were Yaunâ and Lydians.
The goldsmiths who wrought the gold, those were Medes and Egyptians. The men who wrought the wood, those were Lydians and Egyptians. The men who wrought the baked brick, those were Babylonians. The men who adorned the wall, those were Medes and Egyptians.
Darius the King says: At Susa a very excellent work was ordered, a very excellent work was brought to completion.
Translation:
Pierre Lecoq, Les inscriptions de la Perse achéménide (1997 Paris)
Image 2: Susa, DSf (Babylonian) ca. 520 BCE–486 BCE
As you can see the empire of Darius and his successors included many peoples. In the below image, you can see the statue of Darius and then a list of 24 countries subject to Darius from the base of the 3-meter tall statue of Darius found at the Kings Gate of Susa.
Image 3: Statue of Dar
Below are a few images of the floor plan of the Palace at Susa.
Image 5: Plan of Susa
Image 6: Map of Susa, Achaemenid Palace
The Apadana (Great Hall) of Palace of Darius from the Word for Word Bible Comic.
(Image 1 : Map :Attribution: File:Near East topographic map-blank.svg: Sémhur File:Elam-map-PL.svg: Wkotwica derivative work: Morningstar1814 Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)
(Image 2: Attribution Jona Lendering: Licence CC0 1.0 Universal)
(Image 3: Statue: Attribution: Fabien Dany - www.fabiendany.com / www.datka.kg Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
(Image 4: Attribution: Davide Mauro: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.)
(image 5: Map of Susa: Attribution: Jona Lendering, Licence CC0 1.0 Universal)
(Image 6: Map of Susa, Achaemenid Palace: Attribution: Jona Lendering, Licence CC0 1.0 Universal)
June Newsletter
(If you’d like to get this update as a monthly email sign up here: http://eepurl.com/bzpR9f )
Sneak peek at the Book of Esther
In this image, we look down into the Apadana (great hall) of the Palace of Susa. The columns of which stand over 70 feet tall!
Watch this YouTube video below for more information about the Apadana area, although their 3D model is not in the correct colours and more developed research has discovered they were likely this terracotta/red colour.
Video Documentary on Iranian history.
(Set to play at the point where they discuss the Apadana).
New Reddit
If you like Reddit, you can now find us there and join the community! It will include info about us but also historical references, Bible discussion and more (like the Facebook group, but with some different stuff for Reddit fans). So join us invite your friends and get commenting, Patreon backers even get a cool badge when they comment.
https://www.reddit.com/r/WordforWordBibleComic/
Patreon growing...
The Patreon has continued to grow. We are now 8th highest listing on a search for "Bible" (just 7 more patrons to get to 7th) and if we had just 3 more patrons we could be listed on the first page of a search for "comic"!
Can you join us for just $1 a month (or more)? Even with $1 you get great two pages a month of the book in development, you are credited as a patron in the book, you are invited to the quarterly video conferencing (our second one is only a few weeks away) and it helps bump up our rating!
We'd love you consider becoming a monthly patron of the comic and help us make it to March 2020 without a Kickstarter.
https://www.patreon.com/WordforWordBibleComic
What is Patreon? (Video explaining Patreon in general)
Events
Big Church Day Out
BCDO was a really great event for us, short and sweet, lots of people and a great atmosphere. I even got to see Rend Collective perform in the evening. Here's a couple of images from the rare moments I got away from the stall. I met many of you there, so welcome to the newsletter!
The Gathering CVM
At the end of this month, I'll be in a field near Swindon with a couple of thousand blokes. This is one of my favourite events and if you'd like to come you still can, you can also help steward for a very cheap ticket. I'm going to try and get in on the sword fighting and axe throwing workshops this year.
Progress and Prayer
The book is complete, all the extra pages are done and the colours are done too! I am just trying to get an official offer from Zondervan to use the NIV in the USA, this is the last huddle if they agree we'll go ahead with the NIV, if not we may have to carry on with the World English for a while. Please pray that they will agree very soon or if it is not the Lord will to use the NIV, then it gets shut down clearly and quickly soon too.
Also, please continue to pray for God's provision to meet our needs financially in order to keep progressing well with this project, and that we can continue to build his Kingdom with the work.
If you’d like to get this update as a monthly email sign up here: http://eepurl.com/bzpR9f
HAVE YOUR SAY: Cover Design for Esther
Please have a look through these few rough cover designs and tell me which you like the best and why? Any suggestions for different elements to combine, and if you dislike any elements that shouldn’t be included.
Despite the book being 2,500 years old, I don’t really want spoilers on the cover as the idea is that people who don’t know the story will be reading it. That’s why I thought having Esther as a silhouette or not a queen would be a good option.
APRIL: Prospects, Palace, Patreon and Progress.
This month is prospects, palace, Patreon and Progress.
Prospect and Prayer
Tomorrow (Wednesday 3rd) I have a big meeting with a large Christian charity about the prospect of partnering up on the Word for Word Bible Comic. We are not sure how it's going to go but it has great potential! Please pray that God would come alongside us there so that we can work out a way for this to be truly beneficial to both parties and ultimately allow us to combine forces to get the Bible in the hands of more and more adults, young adults and teens!
Please continue to pray about this over the next few weeks as it will likely take a little while to work out whatever happens.
Palace: Sneak peek at the Book of Esther
The Palace of Darius at Susa. Below you can see a couple of archaeological floor plans of the palace too.
Find a whole host of images on our Pinterest board on the Palace of Susa
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/wforwbiblecomic/susa/
In this video, you can learn all about this Palace and King Ahasuerus
View the first Esther Patreon Video as an example of what you receive at the $5+ levels.
Patreon Push!
We are over half way through our 15-day Patreon promotional drive! During the week we've had Live videos, an interview, cross-promotion with other Patreon projects and more info on the benefits for patrons!
Creating a comic page: 'Facebook-Live' recording.
Blog about why your patronage is so important
Live Hangout!
Become a patron today and join us on this Thursday (4th) at 9pm GMT for the first Patreon exclusive hangout, it will be like a conference call using Zoom.us software.
Why even $1/month is a great help!
Firstly, of course, every little helps. Secondly, as a patron you are able to see some of the work before anyone else and can give valuable feedback and comments, even join the live patron hangout quarterly. Thirdly, on Patreon the search function is ranked by 'number of patrons', so your backing raises our profile and will help us be discovered by other people browsing for interesting projects to support. If we can get to 55 backers we will be one of the highest Patreons on the search "Bible" and one the first results page for "Comic". I'm quite pleased that we have passed "Drunken Bible study" on the rankings already.
If even 2% of those on our mailing list did so we could easily reach this target.
https://www.patreon.com/WordforWordBibleComic
List of all the benefits...
Progress
Surprisingly work on drawing the pages of Esther is nearing completion! The pie chart shows all the pages including the covers, introduction and notes which should take too long to finish. We are now working hard to get all the pages coloured quickly to have the book printed and out to Kickstarter backers asap.
In trying to ensure the colouring on Esther is completed on time I have brought in a third colourist to help us out on this book...
New Colourist for The Book of Esther - Dr. Chris!
https://talkingcomicssite.wordpress.com/
I met Chris McAuley (aka Dr. Chris) through a connection at Geek Syndicate (the podcast/website/geek hub) when he reviewed The Gospel of Mark comic last year. He's been developing his colourist portfolio recently and I asked him if he'd like to help us by doing a dozen or so of the pages. Here's a summary Chris wrote about some of the stuff he's doing at the moment...
"I'm a video game designer / Programmer for Digiplay, consultant for Bioware in Edmonton and Technical specialist for Utomik (a subscription-based gaming company). I've recently flatted for Marvel (Hulkverines, Deadpool) and 2000AD(Judge Dredd and Roy of the Rovers) I am the chief colourist for a Scottish project called The Lang Walk Hame - which is up for an arts award and I've been helping Warner Bros with Batman: Hush."
Upcoming Events
Swansea Comic Con 6th April
This Saturday, I will have a stand at Swansea Comic Con! It's another event I haven't done before so I'm hoping it will go well and meet lots of new people.
Portsmouth Comic Con May 4th and 5th.
Plymouth Comic Con May 12th
Elim Leadership Conference May 14th-15th (Harrogate)
Big Church Day Out May 25th- 26th (West Sussex)
