by Neal Bierling

Indiana Jones—Hollywood films about this swashbuckling, if hypothetical archaeologist are well known in many homes. All three of the Indiana Jones movies are now several years old, yet they are still mentioned when I escort people to Petra, Jordan.

Few of my guests who have seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade can forget the look of awe on the faces of Indiana and his father as they ride horses out a canyon and fix their gaze on something that the audience cannot see. When my guests reach Petra, I invariably hear gasps of recognition.

That’s because the movie’s final scenes were shot at Petra. In these scenes, Indiana and his father ride down the Siq, or canyon, and are looking at the Khazneh, or treasury. The climax of the film takes place at the Khazneh. Gasps are not the only thing I get, though. I’m often met with raised eyebrows when I link Indiana and his father with two well-known biblical characters: King Herod and the apostle Paul.

How does this site that’s awed even the jaded sensibilities of Western moviegoers fit into the lives of Herod and Paul? What did Petra have to do with Paul’s ministry? Read on. You’ll see that Petra is just one among many examples of how archaeology enriches our study of Scripture in surprising ways.

A generation of digging archaeology has forced me to think about the role of archaeology for Christian students of the Bible. For years I have always attempted to instill four principles. The biblical archaeologist hopes to help us better understand the Bible in the following ways:

1. by uncovering evidence of the life and times of biblical characters, such as Abraham, David, Paul,…
2. by uncovering evidence of Israel’s neighbors, the Philistines, for example
3. by recovering the languages of the Bible through the digging up of inscriptions, tablets, scrolls, …
4. by helping us to understand the historical claims of the Bible and supporting these claims with evidence.

All the finds or information that I share with students will fit into one or more of the above principles. This article will explore only five sites or finds that relate to the New Testament time period. Petra, both the site and its archaeological finds, fits into all four.

The Bible is a document I accept as God’s inspired word. I do not dig to "prove the Bible." The Bible does not need proving. Archaeology is also a science, and it sometimes creates more questions than answers. Since it is a science, its conclusions can be fallible. However, I do believe that archaeology is able to come close to producing the reality basis of the Bible—that Paul, for example, was a real person who lived in a real time and in a real place. Archaeology can help provide a historical foundation for biblical faith. For twenty-five years my quest has been to find, trace, and follow God’s footsteps in the Middle East—wherever they go. Lastly, the biblical archaeologist can help expand or correct our interpretation of scripture but cannot correct the Bible itself.

Sometimes visiting or learning about a Holy Lands site may, at first, damage an image you had after hearing a Bible story for years at home, school, or seeing it in your Sunday school papers. This experience happened to me at Kursi, an archaeological site on the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee opposite Capernaum. A corollary to my four principles is related to this site—there are (many times) two of everything in the Holy Lands. This site is one of the two locations for the Healing of the Demon-possessed Man as found in Mark 5 (Mt. 8 and Luke 8). The other location, though not as likely, is in Jordan at Umm Qais. For years I always had a particular image of the Legion story based on Mark 5:13-- (NIV) He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Is your picture of this story the same as mine was? Pigs rushing down the cliffs/hillside into the Sea and immediately drowning?

I first came to this site years ago. Standing on the steep hillside in the 5^th century chapel ruins looking down at the Sea of Galilee—forced me to recheck my reading of scripture and to check the archaeology of the area. The Sea of Galilee is a quarter of a mile away! However, there is nothing in the three gospel versions of this story that prevents this picture from being exactly as scripture states. Yes, the Sea of Galilee is farther away than what my teachers and I had thought, but this would not be a problem for the pigs. The 1^st century fishing docks and piers on the Sea of Galilee have also been found and mapped demonstrating that the water level today is basically the water level in the time of Jesus. This site may well have been the setting for the Legion story. Archaeology revised my Sunday school image of the story, but the story remains.

For a second example of how archaeology can enrich our understanding of scripture, let us go to Jerusalem to the Western Wall (Wailing Wall to some) to its southwest corner. One of the unique finds found below the pinnacle of the Temple Mount can be used to explain a couple of Gospel passages. A fragment of a stone vessel was found in the excavations below Robinson’s Arch. This is a drawing made from a wax impression of the vessel. Inscribed on the stone vessel is the Hebrew word Corban that means—sacrifice, a votive offering or consecrated present (to the Temple). Etched upside down are a couple of crude pigeons or doves.

The Hebrew word on the vessel brings to mind the words of Jesus in Mark 7 where Jesus is criticizing the legalism of the Pharisees—that they value their manmade laws more than God’s laws. Jesus introduces a foreign word (to us) saying, (Mark 7:11 NIV) But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted [offered] to God),...." The Pharisees would sometimes avoid "honoring their father and mother" by telling them: "Sorry, but I gave a gift to the Temple (Corban) so I can’t help you out this month." This stone vessel had held a gift to the Temple and clearly explains the words of Jesus.

The doves on the vessel remind us of Luke 2: 22-24 when baby Jesus was 40 days old. When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons." Two doves or pigeons were traditional offerings parents would give the Temple in gratitude after the birth of their son. This stone vessel was thrown off of the Temple Mount when the Romans destroyed the Temple in A.D.70 to be found almost two thousand years later.

Every Christian pilgrim who comes to Jerusalem wants to walk the Via Dolorosa and visit the crucifixion and burial site of Jesus. I mentioned that quite often there are two locations especially for events happening in the life of Jesus. Neither the disciples nor the early church placed markers stating "This happened here." Such is the case for the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. So, I am always asked, which location may have been the site? Since archaeology can help provide a reality basis for biblical stories, I answer the question. However, remember the words of the angels, Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen. Since Jesus left the grave, locating the site only presents an intriguing challenge to the archaeologist.

To answer the question in an article, I also need to explain how the dead were buried in and around Jerusalem in the time of Jesus. Frequently, when say grandpa or grandma died, you open the family tomb and place the body in a rectangular shaft that is about six feet deep, about two feet wide and about the same height. These burial shafts or niches are known in Hebrew as kokhim. The shafts are typical for this century, and you can visit the "Joseph of Arimathea tomb" a 1^st c. tomb with shafts in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher near Station XIV. (The Church of the Holy Sepulcher provides the setting for where I believe Jesus was crucified and buried.) When a year or two has passed or say your parents died, you would gather the bones of grandpa and grandma and place them in one of these boxes—called ossuaries. Typically, these boxes are about two feet long, a foot wide, and about a foot and a half high. An ossuary is used as a secondary burial—you bury the deceased relative a second time—now in a stone box. You may see the skeletal remains of several individuals in a single ossuary. These boxes were very much in use around the time of Jesus here in the Jerusalem area. Hundreds of them had been recovered before the discovery of 1990.

The Bones of Caiaphas

Sometimes the most exciting and important archaeological finds happen accidentally. This occurred late in 1990 with an important ossuary find. A burial cave was hit by contractors constructing a water park just across the valley west and south of Jerusalem below the now popular Haas Promenade. It is not just the Mt. of Olives area (Kidron and Hinnom Valleys) that has an abundance of tombs—they are in all the hills surrounding Jerusalem. So it was not a surprise to hear—oh, they found another tomb. It was a typical 1^st century tomb with shafts (kokhim) and ossuaries. Tomb robbers had entered the tomb at some point and scattered several ossuaries and their contents. At least two ossuaries in one of the shafts had not been disturbed, and there was something especially exciting about both of them. Here is a drawing of the most special ossuary. Notice the ornate decoration on the side. Many ossuaries might be decorated with rosettes, date palms, or even fluted columns. But the side of this ossuary is a masterpiece of art carved with two large circles within which are six whorl rosettes—a very intricate pattern.

Now look at the inscription on the end of this ossuary. Both ossuaries have an etched form of the family name Caiaphas. My first reaction was—the Caiaphas, the high priest who put Jesus on Trial? The inscription is in Aramaic—related to Hebrew and was the language spoken in the time of Jesus. The drawing shows the ossuary with the more complete inscription where its narrow side says "Joseph son of Caiaphas." The skeletal remains inside the box included those of 2 babies, 1 child between 2 - 5, a boy between 13 - 18, an adult woman, and an older man of about 60. Are the remains of the older man the bones of the high priest the New Testament simply names Caiaphas? (John 18:24 NIV) Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest. It is impossible to be 100% sure, but it is very likely. Quite often back in the 1^st century, you went by your father’s name. Josephus, the contemporary 1^st century Jewish historian calls this high priest "Joseph Caiaphas" [Antiquities XVIII.2.2]. So, although archaeologists cannot say with certainty that the bones in the ossuary include those of the high priest, it can be said that here is the family tomb and burial boxes of the family attested in the New Testament. It may be a bit ironic, but I use the Caiaphas family tomb to help explain how and where Jesus may have been buried.

On the weekends that I am in Jerusalem, I worship at the Garden Tomb. Since the late 1800s, this has been the second location for the burial of Jesus. Even though this place was not the setting for the burial of Jesus, it does have the nicest setting in Jerusalem for a worship service. The tomb located here does not have the design of a 1^st century AD tomb; instead it has the design—albeit remodeled in the Byzantine and Crusader periods, of centuries earlier. The Garden Tomb dates back to the time of the kings of Judah of approximately the 8^th/7^th centuries BC. Just seven feet to the north of the Garden Tomb through solid rock is an entire complex of similar but preserved 8^th/7^th centuries BC tombs. The Garden Tomb did enable Protestants of the late 1800s (and us today) to have a place of their own in Jerusalem to remember the Good Friday and Easter of nearly 2000 years ago.

Indiana Jones, Herod, and Paul

I began this article by linking Indiana Jones with Petra, the Herod family, and Paul. Study the passages surrounding the verses quoted here:

Acts 9:23, 24 (NIV)– "After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired against him, but Saul learned of their plan…his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall."

II Corinthians 11:32 (NIV) – "In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped though his hands."

Gal 1:15-18 (NIV) But when God … called me by his grace … I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days.

Notice that Paul mentions a time period of three years between his conversion on the road to Damascus and his return to Jerusalem by going over the wall of Damascus.* Paul says that following his conversion he "went immediately into Arabia…." Is it possible to determine where he went and what he was doing? Yes. Paul also says that it was a King Aretas who was pursuing him. King Aretas (IV) was the former father-in-law of Herod Antipas (a son of Herod the Great) since Herod Antipas had divorced Aretas’ daughter in order to marry Herodias. This divorce not only led to the death of John the Baptist, but it also led to an attack on Herod Antipas by the former father-in-law. *

Arabia in Paul’s time was considered to be the area east of the Dead Sea—the location for Jordan today. King Aretas was the Arabian (Nabatean) king who ruled over Petra and the surrounding area east of the Dead Sea. The mother of Herod the Great was also a princess from this kingdom. The Arabians were the desert people who had built up the Petra that would awe Indiana Jones and all visitors today. What had Paul done in Arabia (Nabatea) and perhaps in Petra to get this king upset enough to order his governor of Damascus to arrest Paul? The only logical solution was that Paul had done the same thing that would also make the Jews of Damascus upset—he was preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade gave no indication that Petra had been home to the Herod family (by marriage) nor that Paul came to this area while sorting out the events that had occurred on the road to Damascus. Even though the movie’s quest for the Holy Grail was a fanciful tale, Petra was a real place that played an important role in the lives of Herod the Great, his son Herod Antipas, and Paul. The above examples briefly illustrate how archaeology can be used to get other students of the Bible to dig into the Word, to find its truths, and then go out to live the Word as Paul did and as Jesus would have us do.

*If Paul was in Arabia ca. AD 35-38, this was precisely the time the Nabateans were trying to teach Herod Antipas a lesson—not a good time for Paul to be there.