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Archaeologists Uncover Origins of Road That Jesus Traveled “Every Day”

Updated: Christian News Commentary
According to recent reports, archaeologists in Jerusalem have unearthed a quarry where stones paved a road that Jesus Christ traveled on a daily basis.  Stone from the site paved the 2000-year-old “Pilgrim’s Road” that is thought to lead to the pool of Siloam, the famous biblical site where Jesus healed the blind man.The IAA’s co-leaders, Michael Chernin and Lara Shilov, claimed, “It is reasonable to assume, with due caution, that at least some of the building stones extracted here were intended to be used as pavement slabs for Jerusalem’s streets in that period.”He added, “Amazingly, it turns out that the paving stones of this street are exactly the same size and thickness, and share the identical geological signature as the stone slabs that were extracted from the quarry now being exposed in Har Hotzvim.”

“The impressive sized stones this quarry produced likely attest to their intended use in one of Jerusalem’s many royal construction projects in the late Second Temple period, beginning under King Herod the Great’s reign in 37-4 BCE,” Chernin and archaeologist Lara Shilov, co-directors of the excavation said in a statement about the discovery.

The archaeologists further noted, “Historical sources tell us that Herod’s construction projects in Jerusalem included, first and foremost, the expansion of the Temple Mount area and the Temple itself. In addition, during his reign, a series of impressive public buildings — palaces and fortifications — were built throughout the city, requiring a huge supply of high-quality construction stones. Monumental construction projects continued in the city under his successors as well.”

“In the ancient world, there were a lot of technologies to shape the stones, and special carts designed to carry them. The Old City isn’t so far,” Chernin said. “There are many cases from the same period of larger stones being transported much further.”

The American Tribune reported last year on the news that archaeologists had unearthed the ancient steps to the pool of Siloam in a major development in biblical archaeology.  “It’s exciting to be a part of a story that’s bigger than ourselves — to be a part of bringing a story to life that has significance not for millions, but for billions,” said Ze’ev Orenstein, director of international affairs for the City of David Foundation.  The pool was used by Jesus Christ and others as an ancient ritual bath.  The Gospel of John documented that it was the site where Jesus encountered the blind man he healed in the famous biblical account.

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Orenstein continued,“There is no half mile that means more to more people that affirms Jerusalem’s biblical heritage not simply as a matter of faith, but as a matter of fact. And obviously living in a time where so much of biblical heritage is being questioned — to be able to be unearthing all of this historical heritage and antiquity that shows that whether for Jews or Christians, that you could see it, you could touch it, you could walk on it, that really our heritage in Jerusalem going back thousands of years, not simply a matter of faith, but a matter of fact, being unearthed here in the city of David.”

Featured image credit:  Heinrich Hofmann, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesus_Christ_-_Hofmann.jpg