The museum is alive!
The Bible is alive!

“We can write a book, about this single coin alone.” Dr. Warren Gage, Dean of Knox Theological Seminary, the world-renowned conservative theological seminary said after visiting The Abraham Park and Kenneth Vine Collection. The museum is located right next to the Pyungkang Cheil Church. Although we have overlooked it as it has been with us so near since its opening in 1998, to an expert’s eyes, it is a treasure chest with an immeasurable value. We explored the treasure chest once again. Curators of the Pyungkang Bible Museum assisted us with explanations.



The English name of the museum is the Abraham Park and Kenneth Vine Collection. How did the museum gain
such a unique name?
It was because the founding of the museum was made possible by the two men. Dr. Kenneth Vine, a well-known archeologist of the U.S. had about 2,000 relics that he had excavated from biblical archeological digs including Israel and kept for his whole life. And he donated them to Rev. Abraham Park unconditionally after being moved by his religious spirit and pastoral philosophy.
Then with the donation, Rev. Abraham Park founded the Abraham Park and Kenneth Vine Collection of the size and value that is unparallel to any other museum in Korea in 1998. The special story of a world-famous archeologist’s donating the relics, which amount to his entire life’s work, to a foreigner with no personal connections headlined the front page of the Korean Daily Newspaper (Hankook Ilbo) at the time.

What are biblical relics and biblical archaeology?
The term “biblical archeology” is still quite new to many people. It was even more so at the time of the opening of the museum. That’s why it was even broadcasted on KBS and YTN (KBS and YTN are Korean TV broadcasting companies). Even today, there is no biblical archeology museum of this size in Korea other than the Abraham Park and Kenneth Vine Collection. Bible archeology is an area of study which researches the remains of Israel and of those related to the ancient world history such as ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greek, and Rome as a background to the Bible. The Abraham Park and Kenneth Vine Collection is a museum of world history in the ancient Near East.

Who are the people visiting the museum?
This is a place where ordinary people as well as Christians who learn about the ancient world history can easily access to and learn about ancient relics from overseas. The remains of this museum were introduced in middle school textbooks and the district of Guro-gu, Seoul, in which the museum is located, recommends it to students as a place to experience the ancient world history. It is also a must-visit place for new comers of the Pyungkang Cheil Church who take introductory Bible study courses before they complete the program. The congregation members who finished the Bible study course and learned about the chronology of the Bible visit this place and would bring other people later.



What distinguishes this museum from other biblical museums or exhibitions?
Visitors are first surprised by the fact that there are such remains in Korea and then by the size of the museum. However, what impresses those who are more familiar with the contents of the museum is its “theme.” For museums, how to display its exhibits matters as much as what exhibits are on display. In this museum, remains are on display according to themes of the Bible: creation-fall-redemption. Dr. Luder Whitlock, Chairman and Dr. Warren Gage, Dean of the Knox Theological Seminary, the top-notch theological seminary of the U.S. visited here at the end of last year and expressed their admiration about the fact that the relics were displayed in relation to the Bible. A pastor from Israel who visited the museum two years ago showed the same reaction. He said he visited many museums in Israel, but this place was more meaningful because it displayed the relics according to biblical themes.



Since the publication of the History of Redemption Series, the museum is gaining more attention. What could be the reasons?
Many Christians began to read the Bible from the redemptive-historical point of view. In other words, they came to realize how God has administered and governed His providence in the world history. That may be the reason why the exhibits of the biblical archeological relics are gaining attention, and particularly among them this museum, which presents remains in relation to the Bible-based chronology is receiving the spotlight. The museum enables us to see the world of the Bible which we have read in a written form.
What surprised us even more since the publication of the History of Redemption Series was the Bible verse that greets visitors at the entrance of the exhibition room: Deuteronomy 32:7 (Remember the days of old. Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you.).
Originally we had posted a different Bible verse there. However, Rev. Abraham Park, founder of the museum and the author of the History of Redemption Series, told us to change the verse at the final stage of the completion of the museum. At the time, we only thought that he chose the verse because the museum exhibits remains of the past.
It was ten years before the publication of the History of Redemption Series. However, ten years later when the series came out, we realized that the verse was the core verse of the series and also the Word that pierces through the entire the Bible.

What is the most popular exhibit? Please recommend us three items that we should see with special attention.
The relics popular among children are the Egyptian mummies and the adults like the coins or the glass relics. If I choose three among the relics with high values in redemptive history, I recommend the gold band of the Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut, who raised Moses in Egypt as if she were his real mother, an Egyptian mummy that reminds us of Joseph’s mummy related to the fulfillment of the covenant of the torch, and a clay tablet of Sumer which we became more familiar of through the lectures of Dr. Shin-theke Kang, the expert on Sumerian language (root language of Hebrew).

Gold Band of the Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut was the most capable female pharaoh in the period of the New Kingdom of Egypt. She was the Egyptian princess in the Bible who discovered Moses, the leader of the Exodus, in the Nile River and raised him as her son. The golden bracelet of Hatshepsut was to be used by being wrapped around on the arm and has a total of five sections and pictures are inscribed all over them.
Among them, Hatshepsut’s official royal name, “Mat-Ka-Ra” is written in hieroglyphics in the long oval shaped scarab.



Mummy
A mummy of a hawk (about 1500 BC) and a mummy of a newborn baby from an Egyptian royal family (about 1000 BC). Many Egyptian gods looked like animals and among them was a hawk. And a mummy of the hawk, which was made after the god Horus is on display. The baby mummy’s coffin was made in the shape of the hawk, expressing the god Horus and the wax mask covering the face of the mummy has a ceremonial beard as the sign of king and royal lineage.

Clay Tablet
The world’s first letters were written in Sumer in about 3000 BC.
This clay tablet writing is a relic from Ur (Ur of Chaldeans in the Bible) and a list of sacrifices given to the temple is written in it. From 2005 to 2008, a picture of this tablet was included in the Korean Language textbooks for first year middle school students.

What else are must-see items in the museum?
At a souvenir shop on the 2nd floor of the museum, we are displaying the History of Redemption Series published in various languages such as Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese, and Cambodian, to promote the history of redemption, the theme of the museum.
Visiting guests can also purchase Korean and English versions of the books.
Also, the New Geneva Bible, which continues the tradition of the Geneva Bible some 450 years later, is on display. The New Geneva Bible was compiled and created by the world’s top theologians and their personal autographs are on this particular copy. The Geneva Bible was the very first English Bible published right after the Protestant Reformation. It was given by Dr. Luder Whitlock, Chairman of the Board of Knox Theology Seminary, to Rev. Abraham Park after he read the History of Redemption Series written by Rev. Park. This autographed copy is a one of a kind.





* Click to view a full-size image