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] 

Top Ten Discoveries in Biblical Archaeology in 2019

Archaeological discoveries in the Middle East in 2019 “add to the mounting evidence that demonstrates that the Bible is historically reliable. 2019 was a year in which significant discoveries were unearthed" (Windlebry).

Here's Windlebry's list:

1. Biblical Names Discovered on a Seal and Bulla in Jerusalem (April 2019)
2. Horns of an Ancient Altar Discovered at Shiloh, Israel (Aug 2019)
3. El Araj Excavations Unearth First-Century Artifacts and a Byzantine Church (July 2019)
4. Evidence of Babylonian Destruction Unearthed in Jerusalem (Aug 2019)
5. Seal Impression of Royal Steward Discovered in Jerusalem (Sept 2019)
6. Monumental Staircase Unearthed at Hazor (Aug 2019)
7. Inscribed Altar May Reference Biblical Battle (Aug 2019)
8. New DNA Study Suggests Philistines Came from Crete (July 2019)
9. Archaeologists Say Evidence Points to Identification of Emmaus (Sept 2019)
10. Rehoboam's Wall Discovered at Lachish (April 2019)

Read the whole thing here.

A Road in Jerusalem Discovered by Archaelogists: Built by Agrippa II?

National Geographic wrote about a road in Jerusalem discovered by archaeologists:

Archaeologists tunneling beneath a Palestinian neighborhood just south of Jerusalem’s walls are uncovering a monumental stepped street that led to the foot of the Temple Mount, the sacred platform that once held the Jewish Temple and now is home to some of Islam’s holiest sites.

The impressive walkway stretched more than a third of a mile, was 26 feet wide, and required some ten thousand tons of limestone slabs. “We think it was a single project built at one time,” says Joe Uziel, the Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist in charge of the effort. Uziel and his colleagues recently published their findings in Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology.

Historians long assumed that the Roman-appointed King Herod the Great, who died around 4 B.C., was responsible for most of the great construction efforts that transformed ancient Jerusalem into a major pilgrimage and tourist center. But analysis of more than 100 coins found beneath the stepped street point to the start and completion of the effort under Pilate, who ruled for about a decade starting in A.D. 26 or 27.

The latest coins discovered beneath the paving stones date to around A.D. 31. The most common Jerusalem coins from the first century were minted after 40, “so not having them beneath the street means the street was built before their appearance, in other words only in the time of Pilate,” says Donald Ariel, a coin expert with the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Just Taylor posed the question to Leen Ritmeyer. Taylor claims that Ritmeyer "is the world’s leading expert on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. No one has more experience in the combination of architecture and archaeology in Jerusalem. He was the lead consultant behind the archaeological drawings in the ESV Study Bible." Ritmeyer comments:

This street has been known for more than 100 years and parts were excavated by Bliss and Dickie around 1890, by Hamilton in the 1930s and Kenyon in the 1960s. A large stretch was excavated by Mazar in the 1968–1978 excavations in which I participated. In 1975, I was able to draw a plan of the whole street from Robinson’s Arch to the Siloam Pool, which incidentally continued north to the Damascus Gate.

At present the southern half of this street is being excavated below ground, more or less under the present El-Wad Street. One can walk on this street starting near the Siloam Pool and walk halfway up.

It is also possible to walk through the sewer below this street all the way up to Robinson’s Arch.

I don’t believe that Pilate had anything to do with it, as the coins that were found under the street in our dig dated to about AD 54. We therefore believe that the street was built by Agrippa II. [Note: This is the Agrippa who heard Paul’s case at Caesarea Maritima in Acts 26, probably around AD 59.]

To build a street like this through a valley, soil from different places had to be transported, and therefore the AD 31 coins may have come from elsewhere.

Click here to the whole thing.

Ritmeyer's drawings in the ESV Study Bible:

Bethsaida: Update on Archaeological Findings

Locating Bethsaida has been a challenge, but new archaeological findings might have made progress in determining its true location as el-Araj.

The two current possibilities for Bethsaida's location are:

1. Et-Tell (previously proposed location of Bethsaida)
The photo below by BiblePlaces.com captures the site of et-Tell in the foreground, which excavators had been proposing as the location of the site of Bethsaida (el-Araj and Sea of Galilee are in the background). However, BiblePlaces.com lists several reasons to argue that et-Tell may not be the location: the distance from Sea of Galilee, elevation, lack of ancient remains, and lack of buildings from NT period. New evidence at el-Araj is shifting scholarly opinion about the location.

2. El-Araj (new archaeological finds since 2017)

A Roman-style bathhouse was found here at el-Araj (the patch of trees on the hill in the foreground; north side of Sea of Galilee). The location is closer to the Sea of Galilee than is et-Tell. And this recent update claims to have just discovered here a church's mosaic floors, perhaps the floor of the Church of the Apostles:

The Church of the Apostles, which is said to have been built over the house of Jesus’ disciples Peter and Andrew, has been discovered near Israel’s Sea of Galilee, according to a team of American and Israeli archaeologists.

BiblePlaces.com documents other evidence, external links, and discussion of the location of Bethsaida as possibly el-Araj, but counsels caution before more evidence is unearthed. That said, finding the mosaic floors at el-Araj is certainly an exciting discovering that seems to provide an additional indicator that it may have been the NT site of Bethsaida.

Gath: New Archaeological Findings

New archaeological discoveries at Gath (summer 2019)
This new article explains how the archaelogical dig this summer at Tell-es-Safi/Gath uncovered evidence that the "iron age city was the New York of the Levant":

A giant of a man may have sprouted from an equally giant-sized city. Super-sized remains of “enormous” architecture and fortifications from a new, unexpected “biblical-era” layer of the Philistine city of Gath were unearthed this summer at the ongoing Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project. 

Whereas most of the site’s previously excavated areas date to the 10th and 9th centuries BCE, this new layer dates to the 11th century, when, according to the biblical narrative in Samuel I 17, the future King David slew the giant Goliath.  

Other significant finds regarding Goliath and Gath:
1. The "Goliath" inscription, 10th century BC

The oldest Philistine inscription ever discovered was recently excavated in Goliath's home town of Gath (Tel es-Safi) by an expedition headed by Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University. 

The inscription was scratched with a needle-like instrument on a small pot-sherd and dates from the tenth to mid-ninth century B.C.E.  Of the two names on the sherd, the first consists of four Semitic letters: TWLA [Hebrew font, alef-lamed-vav-tav], which Maeir says may be the equivalent of the name Goliath.

2. The "RFA" inscription, 10th century BC
A jar with "RFA" inscribed was found at Gath. My wife and I saw this displayed at the Corinne Maman Museum of Philistine Culture in Ashdod. Goliath descended from the giant Rafa people (2 Samuel 21:19-20).

Tracking developments on Gath
For those interesting in following developments or catching up with the buzz on this archaeological dig, check out these links.

• Gath blog, with official posts from Gath's excavation director
• Weekend Roundup at the BiblePlaces' blog
• Info on Gath at BiblePlaces (with several external links)