We're talking yesterday about how cool I think it is that some people get to go out into

interesting ancient parts of the world and dig for stuff and then actually find things

and then you and I can look at those things and learn things and feel connection with the

people who made them, even if the people who made them were thousands and thousands of

years back in history from us. I think that stuff is absolutely rad and I've never got to

experience that myself, but I've got a buddy who did. We've done a couple videos together.

His name's John Monson and this dude, he grew up in Israel and his dad was in the archaeology

scene there and there's this amazing discovery some time ago that every student of ancient

history learns about every student of the Old Testament learns about. It was a silver scroll

that has this crazy ancient blessing in it that dates all the way back to close to the

beginning of the Bible and they found it. Somebody just dug it up. I mean, it was small enough. I

don't think I went clink on the end of his shovel, but the crazy thing is my buddy, John was just

standing there. He watched it get found. Can you imagine getting to be around for something that

important, that significant. And did you see the first batch of dirt slide off of that thing?

Is it sees the light of day for the first time in thousands of years? That kind of business

continues to capture my imagination and part of the way that we can composite back together,

sense of what the Persian world that Queen Esther was living in was like is to go and look at

all the cool stuff that has been dug up or left behind and well preserved in very public ways

by the Persians from 2500 years ago. Yesterday we talked about the Cyrus cylinder. Cyrus is the

founder of the Persian Empire. He conquered Babylon in 539 and then he was like, you know what?

We need some pamphlets here because people are not totally feeling the Cyrus thing and Cyrus

wants them to feel the Cyrus thing. And so he whips up this script about who he is and where he's

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