Page 21 - TORCH Magazine #15 - February 2020

has been built upon over the centuries and today the road sits below the Jerusalem Arab neighbourhood of Silwan. Therefore, the excavation is taking place underground in a newly built tunnel. Thanks to an incredible feat of engineering, archaeologists can carry out their research underground, whilst the people living in their homes above can carry on their lives without interruption.
Considering the road is 2,000 years old, it is incredibly well preserved. The reason for this is that when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70, many of the burned buildings that collapsed onto the road created a protective layer that acted to preserve it. Sections of the road were not protected, but a large portion of it looks today as it would have been in Jesus’s time.
Among the many discoveries found during excavations are hundreds of small coins minted during the Great (Jewish) Revolt before the Romans destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem. Scholars have for a long time wondered why the Jews made apparently worthless coins instead of weapons. Zeev Orenstein has an answer:
“The Jews of Jerusalem understood that the Romans were likely going to destroy the city. But they also believed that one day in
the future, descendants would return and find these coins and they would know what their ancestors lived and died for – for a free Jerusalem.
“And here we are nearly 2,000 years later, standing along the very same Pilgrimage Road here in the City of David in Jerusalem – the capital of the Jewish State of Israel,” he said.
This is a remarkable discovery that confirms the Bible’s accuracy and provides further evidence that Jerusalem is the Jewish people’s ancient and eternal capital.
Ambassador David Friedman, who took part in the opening ceremony, explained its importance to Jews and Christians alike: “The pilgrimage road and the Breikhat HaShiloah, the Pool of Siloam, really enables us to do something which is so hard to do,” he said. It allows us to “go back in time. To go back into history. It brings the Bible to life.”
Half of the Pilgrim Road is now open to the public and within a few years organisers are hoping the public will be able to walk the road all the way from the Pool of Siloam to the Western Wall.
Soon, thousands of present-day pilgrims will be able to make the ascent to the Temple Mount just as Jesus did.
Coins discovered on the road from the Jewish Revolt inscribed with "Freedom for Zion" along with Jewish symbols
An artist's impression of Jerusalem's Pilgrim Road during the time of Jesus
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