Archeologists have found a 2,000-year-old Jewish treasure in Israel that dates to the time of Jesus.
The ritual bath, or mikveh, that dates to about the Second Temple Period was found in Kiryat Gat and officials with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced its removal in September, Fox News reported Thursday.
The careful operation kept the bath intact and photos showed it being lifted off the ground by a crane:
“The bath dates roughly to the time of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, who, as a Jew living during the Second Temple period, likely used mikvehs, though Scripture does not explicitly say that he did,” the Fox article read.
According to the Britannica website, a mikvah is a pool of natural water used to bathe for ritual purity.
“The Mishna (Jewish code of law) describes in elaborate detail the requirements for ritually proper water and for the quantity of water required for ritual cleansing,” the site read. “With the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in AD 70, many laws of ritual purity lost their relevance.”
The artifact that weighs approximately 25 tons was found in an area where archeologists found evidence pointing to a previously unknown Jewish settlement, Heritage Daily reported.
“The mikveh has now been transported to temporary state storage at Beit Guvrin. Once construction in the neighbourhood is completed, officials plan to return it to Carmei Gat and display it in a public open space close to where it was discovered,” the article stated.
Video footage showed researchers preparing the bath to be lifted from the ground:
While speaking with Fox about the discovery, author and Christian apologist Dinesh D’Souza said it was “remarkable” and it helped bring the Bible to life.
“This is confirming, describing, illuminating the world of the Bible. That’s one of the things that biblical archaeology can do. It can authenticate the historicity of the Bible — not the theology, not the miracles, but the historicity of it,” he added.