A Famine Not of Bread

A coin hoard stored in a clay jar at the Aydın Museum. Photo: Mark Wilson. Click here to listen to this sermon. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The Cyprus National Museum in Nicosia has an interesting display—a clay pot lays on its side with a bunch of coins spilling out of its mouth. It was part of a coin hoard found nearby dating to the first century A.D. This is just one of thousands of such hoards discovered in the Greco-Roman world. The size of these hoards ranges from fifty to fifty thousand coins. The coins were buried in clay jars for safe keeping, often during times of war or instability. And it worked quite well. 2,000 years later, many of the jars and coins remain intact. Though clay jars, like other pottery, are fragile and must be handled carefully, they have proven to be quite durable an...