Todd Bolen, Author at BiblePlaces.com

Barkay on Claim to Temple Mount

Most of what is in this Arutz-7 interview with Dr. Gabriel Barkay is not new, but some things are worth hearing again.

Of the discoveries that have been made in the Temple Mount Sifting Project (unfortunately translated in the article as “Screening the Waste”!):

Barkai explained that despite the conditions, “We have made thousands of amazing finds that have changed the way we understand that period.”
Asked later to elaborate, he told Israel National News, “For instance, we have found many small floor tiles, of different colors, which confirm the Talmud’s description of the floor of the Second Temple as being reminiscent of the ocean.”
Other finds have included fragments of stone decorated with ornaments known to be from the Second Temple Period, arrowheads from Nebuchadnezzar’s army and also from the Romans, as well as coins and decorations from many periods. Among the most exciting finds were bullae (seal rings), ostracons written in ancient Hebrew script, seals, and more.

Of the agenda to rewrite history in order to eliminate a Jewish connection to the Temple Mount:

Barkai explained that in addition to building mosques on the site, the Moslems clearly have the goal of detaching Israel from its past and Holy Temple connections: “They wish to undermine Jewish ownership and bonds to the Temple Mount. They’ve built a giant mosque there in Solomon’s Stables [under the Temple Mount] and another one nearby – but aside from that, they have an ideological goal which is even making inroads to naïve circles in the west, and it is called ‘Holy Temple denial.’ They act as if there never was a Holy Temple. This is very very grave; regarding the Holocaust, there are living people who still remember it, but the same cannot be said regarding the Temple…”
“We must demand that Israeli law and sovereignty be enforced on the Temple Mount,” Barkai concluded.

The full article is here.

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Wednesday Roundup

Haaretz reports on the excavation of a prehistoric site in Jerusalem’s Germany Colony.

The aqueduct bridge in the Hinnom Valley is reported in a press release by the Israel Antiquities Authority and includes several high-resolution photos (direct link).

A team has discovered thirteen Middle Bronze and five Roman period cemeteries in southern Syria this year.

The Hong Kong team has responded to Randall Price’s dismissal of their claim to have discovered Noah’s Ark. Meanwhile Randall Price has issued several clarifications about his previous response, motivated in part by his desire to continue searching for the ark this summer.

A massive piece of the rock on the edge of Machtesh Ramon was in danger of falling on the road
below, so Israeli experts blew it up.

ICEJ News is reporting on the level of the Sea of Galilee:

Israel’s Water Authority said Monday that the level of the Sea of Galilee is currently stabilized at only 13.39 inches above the lowest “red line,” defined as a point where serious damage can occur to the vital and historic freshwater lake. At 697.7 feet below sea level, Lake Kinneret is in danger of plunging very close to the “black line” – drawn at the point at which irreparable damage begins to occur at a rapid pace during the hot and dry summer months. The Water Authority warned that vigilance and conservation are extremely important to prevent the water level from dropping further than the 16 meters it has declined since 2004.

A gray whale has been sighted off the coast of Herzliya, Israel.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Weekend Roundup

Hinnom Valley Bridge Discovered

The Israel Antiquities Authority has uncovered an arched bridge in the Hinnom Valley that was built in the 14th century as a replacement of the Lower Aqueduct bridge from the 1st century. From Arutz-7:

Two of the bridge’s original nine arches have now been excavated to their full height of about three meters.
In actuality, the newly-discovered bridge was built in 1320 C.E. by the sultan Nasser al-Din Muhammed Ibn Qalawun, as evidenced by its dedicatory inscription. However, it was apparently constructed to replace an earlier bridge dating to the time of the Second Temple period that was part of the original aqueduct.
Yechiel Zelinger, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said, “The bridge, which could still be seen at the end of the 19th century and appears in old photographs, was covered over during the 20th century. We were thrilled when it suddenly reappeared in all its grandeur during the course of the archaeological excavations.”
“The route of the Low Level aqueduct from the time of the Second Temple, beginning at Solomon’s Pools near Bethlehem and ending at the Temple Mount, is well known to scholars,” Zelinger said. “Substantial parts of it have been documented along the edge of Yemin Moshe neighborhood and on the slope adjacent to the Old City’s western wall. In order to maintain the elevation of the path along which the water flowed, a bridge was erected above the ravine.”

The story continues here.

Yesterday Tom Powers posted his observations of the excavation along with a couple of great photos.

He wonders aloud if the earlier foundations of the bridge underlie the present one. Perhaps the archaeologists will pursue this question.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Jerusalem

Lebanon Defeats Israel in Hummus Contest

The Abu Gosh hummus record stood for less than four months after Lebanon makes a ten-ton dish. From the Jerusalem Post:

Lebanon launched a decisive retaliation on Saturday, in the campaign that Army Radio described as the Third Lebanon War. No Katyushas or Scuds crossed the northern border, but Lebanon served Israel a 10-ton blow in the competition for regional supremacy. Lebanon struck down Israel’s world record for the largest plate of humous on Saturday, in the village of Fanar, east of Beirut. About 300 Lebanese cooks prepared a batch of humous that weighed 10,452 kilograms, The Associated Press reported. A Guinness World Records adjudicator confirmed that Lebanon reclaimed the record. Lebanon accuses Israel of stealing traditional Arab dishes such as humous, and marketing them worldwide as Israeli. Saturday’s plate more than doubled the record set on January 8 by Jawdat Ibrahim, of Abu Ghosh. However, the competition’s not over. “No matter what happens I’m going to double it. I’m going to show who humous belongs to,” Ibrahim told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. Ibrahim’s humous is made in the Abu Ghosh Restaurant that he opened in late 1992, single-handedly starting a dining trend that put his town on the national tourism map. He uses all Israeli chickpeas, grown on kibbutzim.

The rest of the story includes Ibrahim’s promise to reclaim the record before the year is out, along with his goal of using the contest to promote peace between Lebanon and Israel.

Tagged Lebanon

Weekend Roundup

Aren Maeir reports briefly on some archaeological meetings in Israel this week. He’s also expecting to accomplish a lot at Gath this season with more than 100 registered for the first session.

Leon Mauldin has an interesting post with a map and photos of the city of Haran where Abraham and Jacob lived.

Ferrell Jenkins is back in Israel and posting daily of his travels. Friday’s post included a photo of the restored Jaffa Gate.

UPDATE (5/10): Joe Lauer has noted that the Haaretz story on the Muslim prayer room is three years old(!), and thus I have deleted it.

Tagged Jerusalem, Weekend Roundup

Benjamin Plateau, Then and Now

One of the most important pieces of land in biblical history is the Central Benjamin Plateau, with the cities of Gibeah, Ramah, Gibeon, and Mizpah.

Both of these photos were taken at Mizpah (Tell en-Nasbeh) with a view to the south. The photo above was taken in 1926, before the area was densely settled. A tower is visible on the Mount of Olives in the distance.

This photo was taken from the summit of Mizpah and the tell occupies most of the foreground. The Jerusalem airport runway dominates the right side of the picture. A tower on the Mount of Olives is visible on the horizon (center).

The top photo is from the Northern Palestine volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection (Library of Congress, LC-matpc-05515). The bottom photo is from the Samaria volume of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.

Tagged American Colony Photos, Then and Now