Day 7 Part 4 - The Burnt House

We walk a short ways to what looks like a residential neighborhood in a inner Jerusalem sort of way.  We enter a tall building that supposedly is a museum but to me looks like a regular office building.  

A little history here is rather interesting.  After the 6 day war that Israel fought for control of Jerusalem, it was the first time that the Jewish authorities had ever had an opportunity to do archaeological excavation in Jerusalem itself.  Here, right by the city wall in the 1970's they located an extraordinary find.  Space inside the city wall being scarce, it was decided that a museum would be built directly over this excavation instead of the archaeological excavation taking up a lot of room and it's fragile discoveries being exposed to the elements.  

I will say that if you "google" "The Burnt House" many interesting sites will come up that show better pictures than my inferior camera was able to record.  
So we enter the museum and begin to descend into the basement of the building.  As we enter this rather large area, we are told that what we see is mostly the lower floor level of a large home complex, a very elite home of someone very influential, rich and Jewish.  

There are many rooms in this house, frescoes on the walls, mikvahs (ritual baths) in many locations.  Many of the found artifacts are placed exactly where they were found, pots, lamps, and even an iron spear which speaks to the last moments of violence that befell the residents of this place.

One of the most effective methods of dating a archaeological dig is to find the latest dated coin.  Of the many coins found in the burnt house, the latest dates to 68 A.D.  The burnt house is a unique time capsule from when the Roman general, Titus sacked and burnt the second temple and the rest of Jerusalem with it.  The evidence shows that the upper stories of the house were substantially of wood which burned and collapsed on thew lower floor preserving it in a thick layer of ash which lay undisturbed for over 1900 years. Like the rest of Jerusalem, intervening generations rebuilt over the top of the burnt house sealing it intact.  

There is an elaborate walk way system suspended above the dig from which one can see this is no ordinary place to live.  

Our tour organizer, Dr. Marc Turnage explains many aspects of the house, some aspects that are unique to this very house.  It is very clear that who ever lived here lived in luxury that is normally reserved for royalty. 

 From the abundance of Jewish ritual baths and other evidence the owner of the house was a very high raking Jew of the priestly class.  

He builds his case slowly by long explanations and scholarly insight but at length Dr. Turnage reveals that he believes strongly that this is the house of Caiaphas, the High Priest who led the plot to crucify Jesus.  

One of the rooms we are led to was very large and lavishly decorated in fresco style, most likely a banquet room (there are two kitchens nearby).  

The owner of the house was most likely in cahoots with the Roman authorities and entertained them in this very room.  It would have been unheard of for a Jewish priest to have the kind of wealth this one obviously did without being tied in with the Roman authorities in some way.  

I quickly review the gospel accounts of Jesus being tried at night by the Jewish Sanhedrin the night of Jesus' condemnation to be crucified on a cross.  The mock trial took place at the house of Caiaphas (Matthew 26:57).  In the third verse of that same chapter, Matthew actually calls the house of Caiaphas a "palace" which lends to the belief that this very unique lavish Jewish home could have been what we are led to believe.

As I stand contemplating the banquet room, I wonder if the illegal trial held for Jesus could have taken place in this very room.  I don't know if Caiaphas lived until the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., but it is very likely if this was his home, that it would have passed to his descendants in the 40 or so years after Jesus was crucified.

Not all of the burnt house could be excavated as some of it still lies under existing homes and buildings next to this place.  One can only wonder what intriguing relics and evidences would be found.  We spend some significant time here before at last we are told we have another destination, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.