Ancient funerary treasure unearthed at Heliopolis, the biblical city of On
Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered a nearly complete funerary cache at Heliopolis, the ancient city the Bible calls On, in a tomb in the Matariya district of modern Cairo. Among the grave goods were gold earrings, carved scarab amulets, a copper mirror, and alabaster containers still holding traces of eye makeup, all buried with the dead to accompany them into the afterlife. Heliopolis appears in the Book of Genesis as the home of Asenath, the wife of Joseph.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
For thousands of years, people buried their dead with their most precious things, gold, mirrors, jewels, believing treasure could be carried into the next life. This cache is the evidence of that hope, and of its limit: the earrings and gold are still here, in the ground, unmoved for millennia. They could not take it with them. Jesus said exactly this, and pointed somewhere better. Do not store up treasure on earth, where it is buried and stays, but store up treasure in heaven. The discovery preaches a quiet sermon: where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Father, it is so easy to pour our lives into things we cannot keep. Loosen our grip on treasure that stays in the ground, and set our hearts on what lasts. Where You are, let our treasure be, and let our hearts follow. Amen.