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Sea of Galilee Discovered

Officials today announced that the Sea of Galilee, famous in the New Testament as the location of Jesus’ ministry, has been discovered! Reaction to the announcement was decidedly vocal in all quarters. Evangelicals claimed that all of the Bible was hereby proven to be true. One biblioblogger denounced the archaeologists as right-wing fundamentalists, asserting that no such body of water ever existed but the Bible is completely true nonetheless. A Palestinian spokesman said that this is all just a plot to steal their land. One Christian Zionist organization already had an appeal letter for funds in the mail. 60 Minutes had undercover reporters on the scene in hopes of finding an Egyptian scientist to explain how it must be a fraud. A bulletin posted on Ron Wyatt’s website confirmed that they had already located Jesus’ footprints in the water. The first chapter was released of a book by Robert Cornuke in which he claims that he found the footprints, just before being arrested. Seasoned archaeologists noted wryly that great finds are always made on the last day of the season, whereas discoveries like this one are always made on April 1.

Sunset over Sea of Galilee from Hippos/Susita

Tagged April Fool's Joke

More Campsites and Bike Trails in Israel

I’ve always been struck by how few people in Israel are involved in recreational activities and how little developed the country is in that regard. There are a lot of Shabbat bikers in the Shephelah, and during the fall and spring holidays, places like the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee are packed with campers. But biking is dangerous on the roads, and campsites that have even water are few and far between. The government has just announced a plan to make things better. From the JPost:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has launched two programs to encourage Israel’s citizens to get out and enjoy nature. During a special cabinet session held inside a cave at the Beit Shearim national park in the lower Galilee on Sunday morning, Olmert announced one plan to crisscross the country from North to South with bike trails and another program to upgrade dozens of camping sites. “We will… upgrade dozens of camping sites where people can enjoy the best conditions for an overnight stay, and all the necessary equipment, to change nature trips into… places where people can enjoy themselves. “We want to promote the popular sport. You, of course, know that I like exercising, [but] unfortunately, I can’t do what I want all Israel’s citizens to be able to – run, enjoy nature, ride bikes on the paths that will stretch from North to South for hundreds of kilometers,” the prime minister said at the opening of the meeting…. An interministerial committee headed by the Tourism Ministry will spearhead the project to turn Israel into a premier global destination for bikers. A total of NIS 100m. – NIS 20m. a year until 2013 – has been budgeted for the plan. The committee will have six months to present the initial plan for trails to be established as soon as possible and is expected to present a five year plan within a year. According to statistics presented at the cabinet meeting, there are 60,000 sport riders in Israel and bike sales go up 20% every year. The plan seeks to encourage biking by building an Israel Trail for biking from Metulla to Eilat, parts of which have already been constructed. Circular paths for family biking and more challenging rides will also be constructed, and urban biking as an environmentally friendly alternative to cars will be encouraged.

The full story is here.

The "Jesus Tomb": One Year Later

A well-written review of the controversy about the “Jesus’ Tomb” has been published on National Review. The author is Thomas F. Madden, a professor of history at St. Louis University, and he covers the events since the “discovery” last year in an engaging and humorous way. The article begins:

A year ago the Discovery Channel delivered a cheery Easter message to America’s Christians: Jesus is dead – and we found his tomb.
After much fanfare and hype, The Lost Tomb of Jesus aired on March 4, 2007 to an audience of 4.1 million viewers. The documentary, which was directed by the journalist Simcha Jacobovici (better known as the host of The Naked Archaeologist) and produced by James Cameron (better known as the director of Titanic and True Lies), revealed that the Biblical account of Jesus’ burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and subsequent Resurrection was just wishful thinking. The truth, they claimed, was that the deceased Jesus was brought to his family tomb in Jerusalem, where he remained good and dead.
And Jacobovici and Cameron had the facts to prove it. For example, they revealed a stone ossuary (a repository for bones) that just possibly might have the words “Jesus, son of Joseph” on it. (The handwriting is poor, so scholars disagree on the actual inscription.) Another of the ossuaries has the name “Mary” on it. And another one is inscribed “Mariamene e Mara,” which — if you squint your eyes just right — looks like “Mariamne,” which was used by a writer more than 200 years later to refer to Mary Magdalene. Get it? That fits perfectly with the chronicle of ancient wisdom known as The Da Vinci Code, which asserts that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married! Even more startling, one of the other ossuaries bears the name “Judah, son of Jesus,” who must have been the son of Jesus and Mary (obviously born before Mary rushed off to have her daughter in Gaul, as The Da Vinci Code attests).

The rest is here.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Tomb of Jesus

Temple Mount Sifting Project: Video

I’ve mentioned the on-going sifting operation of the Temple Mount debris before (here and here), but I haven’t noted a relatively new video about the project. The video is about 5 minutes long and gives a good overview of what they are doing and why. If you’re interested in participating in the “excavation,” but don’t want to go alone, there’s a group going with the Associates of Biblical Research this summer.

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Hurvah Synagogue Restoration Almost Complete

Reconstruction of the Hurvah synagogue in the Jewish Quarter is nearly finished. Like the original, this will be a landmark in the Old City. From the Jerusalem Post:

It was a focal point of Jewish spiritual and cultural life in Jerusalem. It hosted the installation of the Ashkenazi chief rabbis of Palestine, and the historic addresses by Theodor Herzl at the turn of the century and by Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook over the fate of European Jewry before the outbreak of World War II. And now, six decades after it was destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948, during the War of Independence, a page of Old City history is being revisited: the Hurva Synagogue is being rebuilt. Shortly after the city’s reunification in the Six Day War, the first in a series of plans was drawn up to create a new synagogue at the site. Deliberations dragged on for decades over a variety of building proposals, and a commemorative arch was constructed at the site in 1978, spanning the space where the Hurva once stood. The 16-meter high stone arch – which became a prominent Jewish Quarter landmark as well as a great place to stop for photographs and a feature of many Jewish Quarter postcards – was a recreation of one of the four arches that originally supported the synagogue’s monumental dome.

The story continues here and includes a photo. This story was previously covered (with several photos) on this blog here.

Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, The Holy Land, 5th Ed.

The best archaeological guide to Israel is now out in its fifth edition. The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide, by Jerome Murphy-O’Connor is the best companion for a trip to ancient sites anywhere in Israel. The section on Jerusalem is especially lengthy (150 pages in the 4th edition), and the whole is accurate and readable. Don’t expect to find out about hotels or restaurants – this is a guide to archaeological sites only! The 4th edition came out in 1998, so while I haven’t yet seen the new edition, I expect it will have significant updates. The author has lived in Jerusalem longer than I have been alive.

Tagged Jerusalem, Resources, Travels