Emmas Road

In preparation for sharing with a class about Bible translation, I mentioned Luke 24 and read an article by David Bivin on Emmaus. Bibleplaces Blog introduces Bivin's article:

David Bivin has long lived within close proximity of the Roman road that runs from Jerusalem to Emmaus. He has led a number of tours along this route as well, showing pilgrims the way that Jesus walked with two disciples on the day of his resurrection (Luke 24). I had the privilege of being on one of those tours about 20 years ago. But Bivin is no longer guiding these trips because these ancient remains are being gradually destroyed by neglect and construction projects. 

This situation has been a burden for Bivin for some time now, and for years he has talked of writing an article to document the destruction, with hope that someone might listen and act. A few weeks ago he published just such an article, beginning with the identification of Emmaus, detailing the archaeological finds at the site, and then presenting evidence of the road’s deterioration. 

The article is lavishly illustrated with maps, photos, videos, a chart, and several slideshows showing the conditions over from the last several decades.

The most intriguing section of the article (to me) is what David calls "My Experiment":

Because I found the above-cited evidence regarding the location of Luke’s Emmaus at Motza-Qulonya to be compelling, I conducted an experiment to put this hypothesis to the test. On October 2nd of the year 1987, I walked with my son Natan from the Western Wall of the Temple Mount (the Kotel) to the springs at Motza following the route of the Roman road (on which, see below) as closely as possible in order to measure how long such a journey would take. It was the eve of Yom Kippur, so no vehicles were moving on the streets to slow us down, and we set out from the Western Wall at 6:10 p.m. under a full moon, walking at a leisurely pace. Together we covered the distance from the Western Wall to the Motza springs in one hour and twenty minutes.[24] My experiment proves that Jesus’ disciples could easily have made the trip down from Jerusalem to Motza-Emmaus and back again within the time frame Luke describes. According to Luke, the two disciples who were heading to Emmaus set out from Jerusalem sometime after morning, for they knew of the women’s report of the empty tomb (Luke 24:22-24), but it could have been as late as mid-afternoon. The disciples did not head back to Jerusalem until after they had sat down for their evening meal in Emmaus (Luke 24:29, 33).

Aerial photograph of Jerusalem’s environs from Gustaf Dalman’s Hundert deutsche Fliegerbilder aus Palästina (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1925). Superimposed on the photograph is the approximate route of the Emmaus-Jerusalem road marked in red. Part of the route is hidden from view as the road descends into the valley as it approaches Qalunya.

View from the hill upon which the Arab village of Qalunya was situated facing east toward Jerusalem up the valley through which the road to Emmaus once ran. The Har Hamenuhot cemetery, the light colored structure in the center of the photo, now dominates the landscape. Photographed by Horst Krüger, February 2003.

Even if readers do not find the identification of Luke’s Emmaus with Motza-Qalunya convincing, we can still agree that the remains of the Roman road that runs down from Jerusalem past Motza to Emmaus-Nicopolis marks the route Jesus and his disciples took to Emmaus on the day of Jesus’ resurrection.[25]