Coins from 17AD found under Jerusalem's Western Wall hints sacred site NOT built by Herod

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 11-25-2011 | Rob Waugh

[Renfield]

The history of one of the world's holiest sites - sacred to both Jews and Muslims - is set to be rewritten, following a surprise discovery in a ritual bath beneath the complex.

It proves that the Wall - supposedly built by Herod, the Jewish king who features prominently in the Gospels, was in fact built much later.

Newly found coins underneath Jerusalem’s Western Wall could change the accepted belief about the construction of one of the world’s most sacred sites two millennia ago, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday....

[Tainan]

old buried stuff ping

[brent13a]

They start off the article as if it's a religion-changing discovery. As you read further it becomes clear that all this find does is change the time-frame and validate other Jewish writings.
Basically it took longer to build than previously thought.
Interesting news but it doesn't change the fact that the Moslem hordes still occupy a jewish holy site that has no worth whatsoever to the pagan religion of Islam (a religion of which much is stolen from Judaism).

[avital2]

headline is deceiving. this find means that this part of the huge installation was begun way after Herod’s death. i don’t think anyone will dispute that the initiative for the rebuilding of Temple Mount was Herod’s.

[Paisan]

The coins confirm a contemporary account by Josephus Flavius, a Jewish general who became a Roman historian.

Writing after a Jewish revolt against Rome and the destruction of the Temple by legionnaires in 70 A.D., he recounted that work on the Temple Mount had been completed only by King Agrippa II, Herod’s great-grandson, two decades before the entire compound was destroyed.

This would also explain how the Western Wall survived the prophecy by Jesus - ...not one stone upon another...
It hadn’t been built yet, during the lifetime of Jesus.

[stormhill]

In Matthew 24 Jesus predicted that the temple compound His disciples were looking at would be destroyed within their normal lifetimes ostensibly in 70 CE. The existence of the western wall has been taken by some as evidence this prophecy was not fulfilled at that time since He specifically said one stone would not sit upon another after the event.

This current discovery shows the wall was, in fact, built later thus supporting the accuracy of His words.

[basil]

Very interesting—thanks for posing.

[SkyPilot]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Denial

[Jumper]

People have been digging tunnels for thousands of years in this part of the world, and the Pali’s have been digging in the same area weakening the walls; when they haul off the dirt the Israeli’s go and scavange the dirt at the land fill for artifacts....

[TalBlack]

- sacred to both Jews and Muslims -

Right. Sacred to muslims. Right.

[bobjam]

One of the most common misconceptions is that the Western Wall was part of Herod’s Temple. It was not. The Western Wall is part of the Temple Mount. Herod and his successors built the wall as a retaining wall in order to expand the level platform at the top of the Mount.

The Temple, which stood on top of the Mount was destroyed by Vespasian’s army in 70AD, but the Western Wall of the Mount was not.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Herod, the Jewish king

BZZZZZT! We're sorry, but Herod was an Edomite (descendent of Esau), not a Jew (descendent of Jacob).

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks Tainan for the ping and thanks Renfield for the topic. Great tagline, brent13a. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. New Theory on When Western Wall Was Built New Find Sheds Light on Ancient Site in Jerusalem New Find Sheds Light on Ancient Site in Jerusalem Israeli history photo of the week: Cave of the Patriarchs Israelis set out to map vast, politically sensitive Mount of Olives necropolis Rachel's Tomb Mystery of Dead Sea Scroll Authors Possibly Solved Crusader's Arabic Inscription No Longer Lost in Translation To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[jonboy]

I like the way you think. That’s a good catch!

[Altariel]

Interesting. Thanks!

[ChicagoHebrew]

BZZZZZT! We're sorry, but Herod was an Edomite (descendent of Esau), not a Jew (descendent of Jacob).

Not quite. Herod's father was an Edomite. But the Hasmoneans forcibly converted the Edomites to Judaism in about 125 BCE, roughly a generation before Herod's father was born. From the writings of Josephus, it seems like the forcible conversion stuck, and the Edomites became believing Jews. So, on his father's side, I think it would be fair to say Herod was Jewish.

Herod's mother, on the other hand, was a Nabatean, not an Israelite or an Edomite.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Okay, cool, I didn’t know all of those details. That would explain why the Herods would be interested in building such a grand temple.

My comment was more about their ethnicity rather than their faith.

[Doulos1]

Got to throw the Bullshiit flag on this one.
The coin could not have said 17 A.D. for the renumbering of years didn’t happen till centuries later.
Most scholars agree that King Herod lived “around 74 B.C. to around 4 B.C.” remembering that there was no B.C. or A.D. at that time so the discrepancy could only be around twenty years, hardly earth shattering news. Besides, there is a ton of problems with this secular reckoning. Jesus Christ’s life was threatened by that same King according to the Gospels. So their lives did overlap according to the Scriptures. When it comes to ancient history I will always take the Bible’s reckoning of time over man’s. God’s Word is just that, and man’s word is a pile of *.
Besides who found the coins? If they were “found” by Muslims who could believe that bunch of stone throwing riff-raff?