Museum Of The Bible

This past week, we visited the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. This visit was to see the Megiddo Mosaic for ourselves. This blog is a quick trip report.

Museum Of the Bible

Ryan and I traveled to Washington DC as part of our UNLB week. The absolute highlight of the trip was visiting the Museum of the Bible on Sunday, February 16, 2025. The link above is to the museum's website.

This is the location where the Megiddo Mosaic is currently on display. Our primary purpose was to see that mosaic for ourselves. We learned quite a few things during our day there, mostly by carefully reading the various displays located around the walls of the gallery where the floor is displayed. I will cover what we found below. But, let me back up and explain the museum itself.

David Green

The link here is to the Wikipedia biography of David Green, he is the founder of the Hobby Lobby chain of crafts stores based in Oklahoma City.

The Green family now includes his sons. They are particularly well known for supporting various Christian causes, including Oral Roberts University in Tulsa and the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC.

Though the Green family is credited with creating that museum, I saw 2 different donor walls at the museum. It has support from many sources.

One of our friends in Oklahoma knows the family. Through that friend, years ago, we had heard about their plans for the museum even when it was in the planning stages. At the time they were planning on locating it in Oklahoma.

Knowing that DC is the Du letter on the national Qu Map for the USA, I suggested it belonged in Washington, DC, for the same reasons that the Smithsonian is also in that city. The Du is a purse, where you put valuables. So like the US Treasury, but also heirlooms, like museum pieces. Apparently that prophetic word got back to the Green family and DC is where the museum was finally located.

The Green family deliberately set out to build a world class museum dedicated to the Bible. I understand that in part they studied Disneyland in order learn how Disney does some of their attractions.

Of course there are no roller coasters at the Museum of the Bible. But there is at least 1 very well done walk through that helps teach what the world of the NT was like 2000 years ago.

The museum demonstrates world class, Disney level, of care in the attention to details within the exhibits themselves.

The Green family clearly succeeded in building a world class museum dedicated to the Bible. It is an impressive place dedicated to the known origins and history of the Bible. Also, the museum extensively covers the Bible's various impacts on the world and on the USA in particular.

Our Visit

The museum website estimates that it takes around 9 full days to fully see and understand every exhibit in the building. There was no way, given our travel schedule, that we could spend that amount of time.

Our main purpose was to see the Megiddo Mosaic itself, and then also do a cursory tour through the rest of the building so we would at lease know what was there.

We had planned 2 days, but when we finally were getting to DC itself, we needed to dodge winter weather for our return trip west, so we ended up only having 1 day at the museum. It needed to be a day well spent.

The museum website warns strongly that there is limited parking in the area. There is a metro station in the same block, and they recommend traveling to the museum via the metro.

It turned out we were there 2 days earlier than we had originally scheduled, and were now going to be there on a Sunday. We figured that federal employees (those that remain) would not be working, so there would probably be parking in a nearby underground parking garage.

We took a gamble and drove into the city that morning.

It worked, and we saved the time that would have been needed for the metro ride. We left when the museum closed, and spent the night miles away in Roanoke, Virginia, headed west for home.

Photos

My previous Megiddo Mosaic blog posts have generated a great deal of interest. One of our subscribers told us he was going to DC on a business trip and had spare time one morning there to take photos. His set of photos arrived after we had departed the west coast for the museum ourselves. There was also an email configuration problem involving the backup laptop that I am using for travel, so those photos wait until we get back home. But, they are on the way.

Ryan and I also each took our own photos. Both of us were taking shots of everything we found remotely interesting. So, all together, we have 3 sets of photos that should cover everything of interest.

My plan is to select from all of those photos to extensively document that mosaic on regular web pages that support photos, unlike the blog which cannot do anything other than text. Probably this becomes introductory material on Ezekiel's Bones, but I need to rest up some before I know for sure where this will go.

So for the many readers here who care about this, there is more writing coming on that mosaic which will include photographic evidence to help everyone understand how serious this artifact is to understanding inspired scripture.

In this blog I want to document details of the Megiddo Mosaic that we learned reading the various panels that were in the room where the mosaic is currently displayed. We have photos of those panels for later reference, because some of it is just too strange to believe.

Some of what we learned was shocking. Some strongly supported my initial hunches about how the builders of this floor must have had access to the additional volumes. Some of what we learned is more technical, including the compass directions for the floor and the size of the cubit used to build the floor. Let me dive in to these topics.

The Use of Sharpies

I want to make clear here that the Museum of the Bible has done a wonderful job of displaying what is the most important early Christian artifact ever found. Their 90 second commercial, that I linked in a previous blog, is not overstating this exhibit. This is the most important artifact ever found, it eclipses the dead sea scrolls.

But, on the wall in the gallery where this floor is displayed is an innocent photograph of the original team that uncovered the floor. The workers are carefully trying to figure out the geometric patterns and writing that was appearing as they cleared off the dirt.

That team, in Israel, was using a local brand of markers like we in the USA know of as sharpie markers, to permanently recolor squares on the mosaic. They were using permanent black ink.

The best way to explain what they did is by analogy. Suppose you discovered the Mona Lisa lost in the ground for 1800 years. And you then took a black sharpie to color her hair. Nobody could ever then know her real hair color. That is about what that dig team did here. Anyone who looks at the floor in person, or who watches any of the videos, or who looks at any photos of the floor, are blocked from looking at it in real, but faded, original colors.

In the videos that I have linked in previous blogs, all of the black coloring that you see of the floor is their sharpie work. It is a child-like, color-by-number, permanent damage to the floor.

Yes, that black ink makes it easy for the public to see the floor. But sadly, it makes in impossible for future digital image experts to reconstruct the original color.

The original mosaic squares, of which there are said to be 10 different colors, were likely originally in vibrant colors. They have naturally faded. But modern high-quality digital scan could probably bring back what were almost certainly rainbow grade colors used all across that floor. No so on those now damaged squares.

Dots Around Fish

In previous blogs I suggested that the area around the 2 fish was divided into scenes. Each scene marked from the others by Paleo Alphabet dots.

Upon close inspection it became obvious that the mosaic tiles for those dots have been carefully rounded out into circles so that it was very clear they meant those dots as paleo alphabet dots. Very nice to see.

Compass Direction

All around the exhibit of the mosaic itself were a series of interesting notes. On the edge nearest the 2 fish was a note that this edge was originally the north side of the floor.

This was very helpful to reason about the center stones and smaller designs east and west of those stones. It currently looks to me like these were design bases for items that matched the story of the Mount of Olives. It splits and goes north/south with water flowing east west.

So there is an overall directional map to the room matched against the real compass directions of north, south, east and west. I did not know that in earlier blog posts, so beware.

2 Central Stones

A note on the side of the exhibit explained that the 2 stones shown in the exhibit are not the original stones. That note included photos of the real stones as found.

The reason these stones were traded out is not explained. But I suspect the change was made so as not to show attachment points that held down the Fig Tree which stood in the middle of this room.

Those stones are generally being called the table, as in communion table, for that room. They are pictured in various illustrations around the gallery as holding another slab of stone to form a communion table. This is a wild stretch. If any reader here has ever seen a 12 inch tall communion table, please let me know.

Extra Space

There was a video showing across one museum wall above the mosaic. This video was of the floor as found in the ground. That video was taken before the floor was removed from the ground.

That video showed more flat space in what would have been in the south end of the room. So there was more real floor space near the 5 by 5/6 by 6 pattern of the table. That extra space was not kept when the mosaic itself was lifted from the ground.

This does not bother me that much, but it does make it difficult to estimate overall room space utilization given the exhibits that would normally have stood around the sides in that room along with these floor designs.

The overall room size is likely repeated in miniature in another part of the floor not normally shown in the videos we've all seen previously. Again, there is a certain carelessness in the handling of this floor.

Problems with Inscriptions

When I first saw the 1/2 circles on each side of the inscriptions I knew almost immediately that I was looking at text that should be understood as found via the ciphers. In other words the builders of that floor were citing ciphered text that will eventually prove what set of exhibits they had in their possession.

Those various inscriptions are dealt with in detail on wall exhibits within the gallery where the mosaic is displayed.

One particular panel dealt with the various women's names in one place on the mosaic. That side panel explained that the particular use of language of that inscription was not like any other known ancient inscription. They admitted that they did not know why it was written on the mosaic in that particular way.

I will deal with this in a long form article with a photo of their argument, but the actual thing going on is we as readers are being told to go find, so remember, these names. These names, and likely all of the inscriptions, are ultimately scripture citations from inspired canon that was lost by Constantine's day.

This memorial is to what was lost to future generations. They knew their faith would be lost to the future. They were memorializing a faith that was dead within 100 years. But they also knew their faith would resurrect centuries later. This is part of the parable vocabulary we have learned on this trip.

Carpets

One of the panels around the edge of the mosaic itself referred to the mosaic as a "carpet." This seemed to be a casual reference to the texture of the tiles used to build the mosaic. From a distance it does look like some sort of carpet. The tiles are rough, and they do have texture.

But the use of that term triggers a way to connect this otherwise late dated artifact, from around say 230 AD, to the work of Joshua 200 years before.

The design of this floor may well have been a permanent rendering of designs that had been floating around as real carpets for the previous 200 years. Even the size of the mosaic tiles, about 1/4" square, is matched to what is possible with carpet.

There are several features on that floor that seem to belong as part of the 3d work that I am doing for the rest of the exhibits. This includes the area around the fish and the 2 different trims. More on those trims below.

Units of Measure

I smuggled a measuring tape into the museum. I measured the Table, which comes in around 44 inches square. I will review all the photographs when I get back to the shop for precision on this.

The builders of this floor do not look to be using the 18 inch Roman Cubit as I currently use on the 3d models. (Though the 2 fish are in a circle that is 36 inches wide, so there is some room to wiggle on this point.)

For the Table part of the floor, at least, they look to be using one of the Royal Egyptian cubits, around 22 inches long. Besides using that cubit size, they then used 2 of those cubits for the size of their table.

The design files as they currently stand were originally written using a 36 inch table size, which would have 4" letters and so 4" birds. In order to speed up 3d printing, I later scaled that system down by 50 percent to make parts easier to 3d print. I have been using 2 inch letters and so 2 inch birds for several years.

Finding the Table at about 44 inches across means 1) I was actually pretty close in my original guessing of a 4" letter size. Not bad.

2) I don't ultimately need to reduce these by half.

3) I only need to adjust a few simple scale factors a little so as to line up with their system of measure.

This matters a little for the letters. But it is a major issue for items like the shepherd staff which do need an exact cubit length.

I do not want to forever be fighting a problem related to why I diverged from the actual ancient system of measure. I will be adjusting the code from the 18 inch cubit to the 22 inch cubit once back in the shop.

I will also need to make everything available in both normal and half sizes. The smaller size is way easier to fabricate and needs smaller 3d printers. The larger size is important to match that floor.

I suspect their set of birds were made out of clay. This would have been done by hand. The 2 inch size coming off the 3d printers was probably harder to fabricate in clay in ancient times.

If the flowers on their Fig Tree were at just over 4" scale, then the exhibit which stood on the pedestal in the middle of that room was huge. Some number of people could have easily sat under it, just as the reference in the Gospel of John suggests.

Emotions

Being in the same room as the mosaic itself was a very emotional time. At different times during the day I had difficulty holding back tears.

Different ideas caused me strong emotion at different times.

First issue was how I was now seeing direct historical evidence in support of the prophetic work that has been going on since the first dreams in August of 2009. This has been a long, lonely, faith walk. Suddenly it was connecting to a group of unknown, but very real people who built this floor at least 1800 years ago.

They did not need to have that floor. Nothing in the full set of exhibits demands such a floor. Carpets would have worked. But, they chose to leave many clues in the floor about what they had standing in that room. The art around the fish is the best example. The counts in the trims is another. The location of their stairwell is another. That floor did have an upper room too, I will will show that proof later.

They built that floor and left it for a future time. They left it as a witness. They left it as a memorial.

Then there was emotion around what was lost between the time of that floor and the time of Constantine. So maybe 100 years after the date given by the discoverers for this floor. I can say with confidence that all record of what these people had was lost. Except, strangely, throughout the pages of the Bible. Those people had a very different Bible than what was known even 100 years later. The editors had won. The builders of that floor knew what was going to happen.

Nobody in the crowds walking through the room had any idea what they were looking at. 100s of people walked through the gallery while we were sitting on a bench at the back of the room. Many people took photos. I dare say none knew what they were looking at. Not even the experts who set up this exhibit have any idea what they are looking at. They know the 2 fish is from the feeding of the 5000, and they think there was a communion table. They think the inscriptions are about people who built the room.

That nobody in modern religion can explain that floor is proof the editors of the text had won. That idea of the magnitude of the loss kept hitting me and making me want to weep.

Going Forward

I am writing up this blog on our travel west. We looped south to I-20 for our journey west to avoid severe weather further north. Ryan and I have had many hours of productive conversation dealing with what we saw and learned during our day at the museum.

On Ryan's side, you will soon be seeing a bunch of changes in the scripture apps. Turns out Mark and John were written as historical documents that use a symbolic system of understanding against the exhibits, especially John which is interpreted using the Fig Tree exhibit that sat on the pedestal. Mark is also interpreted using the River that sat under the stairs to the upper room. Ryan now has a much better way of handling the Gospels than ever before. The BRB and related Testimony apps will get initial updates in this area when this blog goes out on Friday. More updates should come in future weeks.

On my side I need to change my unit of measure. This means everything 3d printed so far is slightly small. Those items will be reprinted as other design issues need correction. Size alone is not a reason to immediately reprint anything.

More importantly I need to incorporate some design elements from the floor into the set of exhibits that I am currently working on designing.

The biggest of those appears to be the trims used around the fish and the table. Touching the hem of Joshua's robe in order to be healed of an issue of blood, or to be brought back from the dead, is a parable about the meaning and use of those trims.

Those trims need to be in my standard set of 3d printable exhibits. Their use on the floor does not match their use on the walls of that ancient room. They were borrowed for use on the floor so as to be part of the memorial because they are so important.

The cipher system, and related cipher disks, is something I know I still do not fully understand. I cannot go cipher text right now even if I had a cleaned up master text.

One part of finishing my understanding may involve rendering the cipher disks themselves as small lamps. This comes from an exhibit I saw elsewhere in the museum. I will need to study this more closely when I am back in the shop.

In order to get this work done faster I need to expand some parts of the 3d print farm. I will be using the half scale values to proof out design issues, but I will need to test print full scale items before I can publicly post the design files for the exact models that match that ancient floor. This is way more 3d printing than I have previously anticipated.