Operation Rock of Ages: Genesis

Book One of Three

CHAPTER 1

"This is Janice Stillwell, with a Special Report from Israel. Dr. Jacob Levi Mezrah, a famous archeologist in the Middle East, has uncovered what he deems the find of the century." Immediately, Ms. Stillwell turned away from the camera and faced the gentleman sitting next to her. The camera focused on an unassuming man that had a weather-beaten face with deeply etched lines and dark skin. "Thank you for joining us tonight, Doctor. In your own words, can you please tell the audience what you have discovered and why you believe it is the find of the century?"

"Yes, yes. I would love to. We were unearthing ruins in what we all know as the City of David, which lies underneath modern-day Jerusalem. It is not easy to get permission to dig there since it is a highly contested land. The tunnels we unearthed are under the Israeli and Palestinian settlements. As most know, in the Middle East, we tend to build one civilization on top of another. Where there are limited resources, we make do with what we have on hand. So, when we try to explore our past, we must go under 'what is' to see 'what was.'" He smiled intently at the reporter and continued, "In this place, the City of David, we found a sealed cave that without modern technology would never have been found. The rock seal was seamless. Inside this cave, we found major Jewish artifacts, some of the earliest ever found in this shape. It is amazing!" As he continued, his excitement began to grow. "Also, we found many scrolls. It was almost as if this was a library of sorts. We have the mundane, like receipts, to the fabulous, like diaries and stories!" he said and finally took a breath.

"It does sound like the find of the century, doctor. Have you been able to identify any historical figures from the writings or anything of interest to the layman? When will these translations be available to the public?" Ms. Stillwell asked curiously.

"Well, as you know, it takes time to translate these things. We may be able to put some translations out in about six months. So far, we have several writings that we are excited about. One seems to be a journal or diary from someone called Moses. It is too early to say if it is from the historical Moses or not. We have to put the scrolls in order as well. The one we started on seems to be a continuation of prior writings, which may very well be the other scrolls we found sitting together with this particular scroll. However, we are not sure yet about this. But what we found interesting about this scroll by Moses is that he left a prophecy that one day the Children of Abraham would once more come together and find peace. Just for fun, we are going to put this small prophecy out on our website for everyone to see. We will identify it as a preliminary finding only, and remind people not to take it too seriously until we can verify scientifically more details about these writings."

"The Children of Abraham?"

"Yes, the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael. It is a very old story in the Jewish and Islamic faiths. Christians even recognize this as a story important to their faith. According to all three faiths, the story portrayed that Abraham had Ishmael as his first-born son, but God put forth their second son to receive the blessing as the chosen one. The Muslims believe that Ishmael should have been the chosen one by tradition. Ever since that point in history, the Muslims and the Jews have been at war with each other, per se."

"So, this story has caused centuries of unrest in the Middle East and around the world?"

"Yes, yes, pretty much. I am sure there have been many things to contribute to the animosity, but how exciting would it be to see peace between these two nations and religions? It would almost be enough to make me believe!" he said with a chuckle.

"That might do it for me, too. Thank you for coming, Doctor, and please keep us informed of your progress," Janice smiled and turned back to the camera. "Thank you for tuning in for this special report. World News with Ned and Jon are up next. Please stay tuned, you wouldn't want to miss it!"