Archaeologists Uncover Ancient Biblical Treasure in the Judean Desert | Jerusalem Dateline

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] today on this special edition of Jerusalem dateline excavations in the Judean desert unearth the biggest archaeological find since the Dead Sea Scrolls and join us as we go back in time to visit the hometown of Mary Magdalene plus take a stroll on the biblical Super Highway all this and more on this edition of Jerusalem Dateline hello and welcome to this special edition of Jerusalem Dateline I'm Julie Stahl the first manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in qumran in 1947 decades later the Judean desert is still revealing archaeological Mysteries last year the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered some of the most significant discoveries since the Dead Sea Scrolls some of the fines go back more than ten thousand years Chris Mitchell has this story [Applause] since 2017 Israeli archaeologists have surveyed The Ravines and caves of the Judean desert the Israel Antiquities Authority put together the four-year project to prevent Robbers from looting Priceless artifacts work included repelling more than 200 feet down to one of the main caves inside the team dug and sifted soil not touched for nearly two Millennia their work uncovered biblical Treasures including pieces of Scrolls nearly 2 000 years old wow then they made the precarious Trek up the cliffs taking the treasures to the Israel Museum it's a great day actually it's it's a day where we we can show our our work in the last four years in the desert it's specific work but you can see that we found many significant artifacts and items that belong to the state of Israel perhaps the most important finds are these Scrolls from the book of Zechariah and Nahum these are the first biblical Scrolls found in the Judean desert in nearly 60 years the Jews who fled the Romans in 70 A.D brought this scroll to the cave they took with them only what was most important to them and what was essential for surviving and this is one of the things that they took and this tells us something about how strong their belief was um when when could always assume that they read the words of the prophets here and found some sort of a consolation during their troubled times the recovered portion of the scroll comes from the book of Zechariah that says these are the things you are to do speak to true to one another render true and perfect Justice in your Gates and do not contrive evil against one another and do not love perjury because all those are things that I hate declares the Lord it was also very striking to find these specific verses I read it a bit as a kind of a message that is uh transcends time the team also uncovered the six thousand year old body of a child and found an intact basket that they sent for carbon dating when the results came back we were amazed it is ten thousand and five hundred years old it's so unique it's the only example that looks like this from that time in Israel and maybe in the world the fine shed light on Jewish history these coins from the barcopa revolt against the Romans carry inscriptions that refer to the times of King David and King Solomon these coins are from the time of Jerusalem's destruction in 70 A.D it's a Jewish people's Story the schools meant that we found down the fugitives the coins the weapons from the rebellions but it's not only the story of the Jewish people the story of the humankind back in the Judean desert archaeologists say there are still hundreds of caves left to explore with the promise of finding more biblical Scrolls and historic artifacts Chris Mitchell CBN News the Israel Museum Jerusalem now we take you to Northern Israel where an amazing Discovery has been made in the Galilee it's a first century Jewish synagogue in the city many believe was the home of Mary Magdalene so what's the significance of this incredible find Scott Ross takes us to the city of magdala to find out located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee McDonald's sits at a crossroad of Jewish and Christian history magdala is very significant already just in general culture one of the most known figures of Christian discipleship is Mary of magdala what's the importance of magdala for the Jewish people it's a first century town and a very significant excavation in the first century for the Jewish culture in 2005 father Juan Solana initiated the magdala project to highlight the ministry of Jesus and an opportunity to honor Women of Faith they broke ground in 2009 and what happened next father even and Kelly describes as Providence we bought this piece of land and then to find it in magdala the land and not just on any Hill around the Sea of Galilee and then you start digging with two prayers Lord Spirits from archeology because it's expensive Hobby and then a big delay for all the project the second prayer was if you do give us archeology give us something good and so we find this incredible discovery of a first century synagogue seated in the synagogue Father Kelly told me about some of the features that make it so amazing so we're in a very big room and we see it's organized with two rows of seating here in the central part and we have another raw seating inside the outer walls this is a space that's not a family home it's a very ornate community room that has this mosaic and the frescoes and the mosaic has two parts the rosette Mosaic with the three colors but now the Specialists are telling us there are 26 colors in the Mosaic and then we have the unending pattern which shocks some people but they say this was also in the temple in Jerusalem and then we have the magdala stone right bang here this is the place where we found it now this and the one out there is our copies it's considered and treasured by many archaeologists on the level of the Dead Sea Scrolls in terms of archaeological importance archaeologist avian proposed the theory of the magdala stone resembling the second temple of Jesus day and I suggested that what we have here is some kind of a model symbolic of the temple in Jerusalem we have the the menorah we have the altar the golden altar we have the showbread table and we have a scene into the holy of holies because of the Commandment against graven images avian says the choice was to portray God symbolically in a Divine Chariot the as it is in the book of Zechariah and many other books from the second temple period which gives us a description of the Chariot on which God is riding what is the significance then of magdala going back in biblical history magdala today gives the largest view archaeologically of the time of Jesus while there's no physical evidence that Jesus visited magdala Father Kelly says the signs are there Scott's every day every group asked me this question was Jesus here was he in this synagogue and magdala and I say we don't know because we lost all the videos Jesus was surely president Galilee and this is on the path from Nazareth to Capernaum there's a port here and he's always crossing the lake this is a mecca for the galleonsian fishermen at Mcdonough the Duke al-a-tham Center is a place for people of different faiths to worship its Latin name is taken from Luke where Jesus tells Peter to launch into the deep The Atrium is designed to honor the Jewish women who follow Jesus in the New Testament four smaller chapels include mosaics illustrating biblical events and in the boat Chapel a unique boat-shaped altar overlooks the Sea of Galilee when the gospel is proclaimed up there at the microphone it looks like Jesus is preaching again to us from the boat imagine you're having liturgy here in prayer and the boats are going by it allows people to get into the moment of the Gospel happenings and downstairs is the encounter Chapel where Father Kelly says he believes God is healing divisions between Christians and the Jewish Community this is part of the road of the first century Port so you know the names of many first century fishermen so who walked on the street yes now if Jesus came to magdala I say he was more often on this street than he was in the synagogue in our synagogue magdala is staffed in part by International volunteers I never been in holy land before so he was taking a huge risk it was very surprising to see how what we think about Israel the Holy Land and coming here and seeing the reality and that guest house for pilgrims it opened just recently what's the vision for the future now we had to make quite a few adjustments because of the archaeological discoveries which enriched the site immensely enriched with meaning and then by finding a synagogue a huge increase of the Jewish Christian dialogue and also the Christian to Christian encounter because here we have a place where we're not divided Scott Ross for CBN at mcdala in the Galilee Israel coming up an ancient Road buried for thousands of years is Unearthed for a limited time you can get five of cbn's critically acclaimed documentaries experience The Rebirth of the modern state of Israel the historic buns in the Jewish people and the land of Israel Israel relive the battle for Jerusalem in The Six Day War Jerusalem is yours forever discover how Israeli volunteers are changing the world when people need us we volunteer and we come and help explore the world of Israeli technological innovation for people of dreams God gives us dreams and that's really the roots I think of much of our Innovation and to understand the biggest land dispute in history many Palestinian Arabs claim that the Jews stole Arab land but is that the real story this exclusive Israel DVD collection can be yours for a gift of 29.99 or more call now or go online to get your Israel DVD bundle which includes streaming access download the CBN News app 24 7 news from a Christian perspective at home or on the road one place for all of your news breaking news alerts set daily prayer goals and pray for news stories read the most important news and watch CBN News Channel live CBN News because truth matters go to cbnewsapp.com to get the app today now is the time for Christians to oppose the anti-israel boycott divestment and sanctions movement in cbn's free guide stop the boycott of Israel you'll learn about this malicious economic Warfare against the Jewish nation and you'll find out how you can stand beside Israel the birthplace of our Bible faith and Jewish savior get your free copy today call 1-800-700-7000 or go to cbn.com BDS in ancient Israel the Jewish people obeyed the biblical commandment to travel to Jerusalem three times a year for a temple sacrifice two thousand years later the road they walked is uncovered for all to see CBN Middle East bureau chief Chris Mitchell takes us on that road they call it the biblical superhighway the Pilgrim's Path that led to the Jewish temple in ancient times the places and events and the peoples that make Jerusalem Jerusalem for Christians for Jews it all happened here in the city of David this is where the Beating Heart of Jerusalem is we're talking about the pool of Siloam we're talking about Mount Moriah the Temple Mount we're talking about the city of David the pilgrimage Road Links them all together for Jews in ancient days their pilgrimage began here at the pool of Siloam it's a Mikvah or ritual bath it's the size of two Olympic swimming pools they would purify themselves here before going up to the Temple Mount to worship God the historian Josephus says that two thousand years ago on the pilgrimage festivals there would have been more than two million people going up on pilgrimage that's a lot of people who need to bathe the pool is also where Jesus healed the blind man as recounted in the Book of John its location was hidden by a road until until 15 years ago when a sewage leak led to excavations the discovery of the pool and much more the archaeologists when they find the pool of Ceylon so they understand if that's the pool and they know where the temple stood on the temple mounts and 2000 years ago the same Temple Mount is today Zev Oren staying with the city of David Foundation says archaeologists wondered how the pilgrims traveled from the pool to the Temple Mount so the archaeologists widen the excavation and we are standing on the very answer to that question we are standing Atop The Ancient pilgrimage Road these are the stones that Jesus would have walked on on his way up to the temple and now the significance of the excavation of the pilgrimage road is that for the first time in 2000 years visitors will be able to walk all the way from the pool of Siloam up to the Western Wall the word in the Bible the Hebrew words is now what we understand that to mean is it's a spiritual Ascent you're going up to the Temple going to Jerusalem it's a very holy place but Chris when you're in the place where the Bible happened the words of the Bible come to life because as we're walking right now and I'm sure you could feel it we're walking uphill and it was more than that this would have been like Times Square you would have had on both sides of the road and keep in mind the road is about three four five times wider than what we see over here you would have had shops stalls along both sides of the road this is the center of Jerusalem from a spiritual perspective from a communal perspective also from a Commerce perspective according to the Israel Antiquities Authority the road took 10 years to build from 20 to 30 A.D and was constructed by Pontius Pilate one of the major issues of Jerusalem is that it's a living City all the layer for the archaeological layers are built on top of one another and the modern living quarters and everything is built on top of the archaeological layers excavation manager Ari Levy says uncovering the road is a major engineering feat we have what I remembered just above our words and we don't want it to collapse after each meter that we take out each meter of soil rental an arch like construction like this this supports the entire weight of what we have above us along the Route you can see many places where the road remains intact and others where it's destroyed given its violent history we know that the Romans they destroy Jerusalem and if you would find everything perfectly intact well it wouldn't seem like much of a destruction among the discovered Treasures are small coins minted during the the great Jewish Revolt before the Romans destroyed the temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D Scholars often wonder why the Jews made worthless coins instead of weapons orenstein has the answer Jews of Jerusalem understood that the Romans were likely going to destroy the city but they also believed that one day in the future their descendants would return and find these coins and they would know what their ancestors lived and died for for a free Jerusalem and here we are nearly 2 000 years later standing along the very same pilgrimage wrote here in the city of David in Jerusalem the capital of the Jewish state of Israel half of the pilgrimage Road will open soon to the public and within a few years all the way from the pool of Siloam to the Western Wall that will give visitors a first-hand experience of what it was like to worship God in the time of Jesus Chris Mitchell CBN News along the pilgrimage Road in the city of David Jerusalem up next a little girl makes a big archaeological Discovery in the city of Jerusalem names from the Old Testament are being Unearthed all over the city of Jerusalem this was amazing come as close as you can get to personalities that are known from the Bible astonishing discoveries made today a jaw-dropping moment of Bible archeology this is much more than a thrill this is actual history that took place here on the site where we sit right now confirm the Kings and Prophets of the Bible left real evidence of their lives right time the right place with the right people and one of the most significant finds in recent history exactly as the Bible tells us happened in the days of King Hezekiah written in stone King prophets we have the Bible and we have archaeologists telling our story it's matching the Old Testament is a reliable history book get your copy today for a gift of any dollar amount call now or go to cbn.com written in stone [Music] I am Regent's first ROTC graduate student [Music] foreign [Music] get superbooks Heroes of the Bible bonus three stories of people who fought Giants faced rulers and stood strong for their faith and overcame join the CBN animation club and get Gizmo Go Quantum karaoke plus two copies to share with others offer your gift of only twenty five dollars and is part of our heroes of the Bible bonus receive three additional Superbook episodes as our way of saying thanks an 11 year old girl uncovered a significant archaeological find during a family outing in Jerusalem the discovery sheds new light on what life was like in the Holy City 2000 years ago Chris Mitchell reports in the emik zurim park visitors can sift through debris from the ongoing excavation in the city of David that's where Lee El crudicop found a rare silver coin from the time of the second temple it's filled something not too normal and I'm go to their archaeologic weather and he clean it a little bit and then he told me and from a family that's a silver coin at first Leo's father thought they should throw it away actually it didn't look like a coin so I was thinking to myself this is some kind of stone and actually I told to the girls put it in the garbage can but they insisted that this is a coin and they took the coin to the archaeologist that was on the side and he confirmed that this is indeed a coin I was very excited and it's like some happy feel because somebody touch it before 2 000 years and right now I'm touched this is a very well find together with this silver coin we know from the archaeological documentation only 30 others silver coins from the Rebellion the coin has two Hebrew inscriptions we can see the walls in ancient taboo Shaker Israel and a second line with two Hebrew letters shinbert which means the second Hill of the Rebellion against the Romans 678 A.D on the other side of the coin we have another inscription in ancient taboo which says Holi Jerusalem archaeologists believe the high priest in the temple wanted the coin to help pay for the revolt against the Romans coins were minted in order to emphasize independence of certain communities so the Jews that they rebelled against the Romans wanted to emphasize that our independed the Hebrew wording on the coin hearkens back to the first temple for a reason to the time of King David and his son King Solomon the Jews wanted to emphasize their connection to the great Kingdom of Israel led by King David they missed it they wanted their Kingdom to be as loud as King David Kingdom the coin came from a layer of debris dating to the destruction of Jerusalem in and 70 A.D I'm standing on the remains of the ancient pilgrimage road that led Jews from all over the world to the temple itself when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the street itself all the structures that stood on both sides of this street collapsed into one pile to Levy the discovery is like traveling back in time to hold this silver coin is like going back 2 000 years ago and actually touching the common the daily life of the people that lived in Jerusalem lyelles mother sees it as more proof of Jewish life in Jerusalem tells a lot about the history about the people that lived here about everything about the history of this place of Jerusalem and the meaning of this place to us to to the Israelis to the Jewish people so yes it means a lot foreign coming up we take you to the city where Jesus performed his first miracle thank you for watching Jerusalem bayline we're committed to providing you with unbiased reporting from the Holy Land through weekly broadcast podcasts and online media our vision is to reach Millions around the globe with the true story of what's happening in Israel and the Middle East all from 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Cana in the Galilee what we have here is a cave and artificially hewn cave which was hewn out by ancient warriors 2000 years ago so this was both a quarry and a workshop for the production of stone vessels Arielle University archaeologist Dr yonatan Adler is heading the excavation we have a huge amount of production waste which includes both cores which were taken out from the inside of mugs and bowls which were produced here vessels that were that had broken during the production process I archaeologists uncover literally thousands of these cores at the site and what the Craftsman threw away as production waste two thousand years ago has become a treasure today this is an exciting find and here for the first time we have production sites in Galilee which which we're able to excavate and to learn more about the observance of ritual Purity two thousand years ago the New Testament specifically mentions Stone vessels and purification laws when Jesus turns the water into wine at the wedding in Cana now there were set there six water pots of stone according to the manner of purification of the Jews stone is a material that doesn't become impure as opposed to Pottery vessels if they came in contact with something impure or corpse or something like that then the pottery vessel would become impure and it would have to be broken it couldn't be reused Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist yardana Alexander said stone is considered pure all the time if the population was concerned with keeping the Purity laws then they would make sure that they'd have some of these chalk vessels in the houses archaeologists haven't found any large Stone vessels like the water jugs at Cana at the site yet but they hope to be allowed to continue to excavate for more ancient Treasures despite the building of the new Sports Center that's all for this edition of Jerusalem Dateline thanks for joining us remember you can follow us on Facebook Twitter Instagram and YouTube and you can also access CBN content through our CBN News and other CBN apps and don't forget to sign up for our email blasts so you can continue to receive all of our exciting CBN content and remember the god who's watching over Israel and you and me neither Slumbers nor sleeps I'm Julie Stahl we'll see you next time on Jerusalem Dateline [Music] foreign

Channel: CBN News

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Id: xRRvvfNQPIc

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 18 2022