Artifact Discovered from Solomon's Temple

In recent years, many new archaeology discoveries have been made that directly relate to people and events in the Bible. Many "scholars" have declared that the stories in the Bible are little more than mythology. After all, few of the Kings of israel (define israel) or judah (define judah) are mentioned any place other that the Bible. Their reasoning is that if the kingdom of saul (define saul), David, and solomon (define solomon) were as great as the Bible says, why are they not mentioned in the writings of other great kings of the day? As christians (define christians), we take the Bible on faith (define faith) and that is as it should be. However, there have been some significant discoveries in archaeology recently that Bible believers should celebrate.

It is the purpose of this page to present some of those discoveries to church (define church) lay persons. Do not become addicted to "proofs" as the basis for your faith, but, take joy in the fact that many people and events in the Bible can be substantiated by scientific study.

 Artifact Discovered from Solomon's temple (define temple)

An ivory (define ivory) pomegranate came to light in 1979 when Andre' Lemaire entered an antique shop in jerusalem (define jerusalem). The significance of the pomegranate (define pomegranate) in biblical times is that it was a symbol of fertility as it is laden with many seeds. This particular ivory pomegranate was determined to have been originally the head of a priestly scepter. The pomegranate also has inscriptions on it. After scholars studied the inscriptions the piece gained dramatically in value. The pomegranate was determined to be the top of a scepter from the Temple of Solomon!

There is a mystery (define mystery) about the pomegranate that bears telling. No one knows where the pomegranate was found, or how it came to the antique dealer. Lemaire had only obtained pictures of the piece. Furthermore, by the time the significance of the pomegranate was determined, the antiques dealer could no longer be located either.

In 1987, a tour guide named Meir Urbach offered the Israel Museum the pomegranate for $600,000.00. Urbach was not your run of the mill (define mill) tour guide; being the son of Israel's greatest Talmudic scholar, the late ephraim (define ephraim) Urbach. Meir Urbach claimed to know who actually owned the pomegranate. In any case, amid all the intrigue, the museum's acquisition committee set about trying to raise the $600,000.00. Their efforts proved futile. In the meantime, the piece was smuggled to Paris as an exhibit at the Grand Palais.

In keeping with the mystery, in 1988 an agent informed the Israel Museum that it would receive a gift of $675,000. Anonymous gifts such as this are not unheard of, however, Museum officials usually know the donor. Not the case here. No one knows who gave the museum the money to purchase the Pomegranate. It is duly noted how coincidental that the amount of the gift equals almost exactly the asking price for the pomegranate. According to sources, the antiques dealer parted with the pomegranate for $3000.00. As always, there are some doubters as to the authenticity of the pomegranate, but it has passed the test with three world renowned experts, and has thus been accepted as a relic from the Temple of Solomon.

Go to Biblical Archaeology Review to read all the details. Scroll down the page and you will see the story about the siloam (define siloam) Pool. At the bottom of the page is a link to the latest Biblical Archaeology Review article with the details of the discovery and a picture of the pool. It is a .PDF file so you will need the Acrobat Reader to open the article.

Related Items:

• The Cosmopolitan Jesus?
• The Burial Box of James, the Brother of Jesus
• The "Jehoash Inscription"
• The bones of Caiaphas
• Did King David Really Exist?

• Bible Archaeology