About 70 coins were found in an excavation at the foot of a key Jerusalem holy site. They give a rare glimpse into the period of the Jewish revolt that eventually led to the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple in A.D. 70, said Hava Katz, curator of the exhibition.
The Jews rebelled against the Roman Empire and took over Jerusalem in A.D. 66. After laying siege to Jerusalem, the Romans breached the city walls and wiped out the rebellion, demolishing the Jewish Temple, the holiest site in Judaism.
The coins sit inside a glass case, some melted down to unrecognizable chunks of pockmarked and carbonized bronze from the flames that destroyed the Temple.
"These really show us the impact of the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century," said Gabriela Bijovsky, an antique coin expert from Israel Antiquities Authority. "These are a very vivid, dramatic example of that destruction." By MICHAEL BARAJAS (AP)
Jesus foretold the destruction of the Temple in Matthew 24:1-2:
Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, "You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:1-2)
The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001).Here is an excerpt about Herod's Temple from the "New Bible Dictionary":
The building of Herod’s Temple, commenced early in 19 BC, was an attempt to reconcile the Jews to their Idumaean king rather than to glorify God. Great care was taken to respect the sacred area during the work, even to the training of 1,000 priests as masons to build the shrine. Although the main structure was finished within 10 years (c. 9 BC), work continued until AD 64. The building was barely finished (AD 64) before Roman soldiers destroyed it (AD 70). The golden candelabrum, the table of showbread and other objects were carried in triumph to Rome, as depicted on the Arch of Titus.
D. R. W. Wood and I. Howard Marshall, New Bible Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 1158.
