Sacred Soil – Ancient Proof

Let's get into the details of what was found in the sand. Well, amazing things, actually. I mean, you find everything from jewelry, from different periods of time, to coinage. I mean, coinage started in the 6th century B.C. in this world. All of this has been found in one form or another. But then you also have these wonderful things related to seals, which have names on them. So not only do we have a seal coming from the past, but it connects with the Bible with the very name of the people involved. Shalom and welcome to Jewish Voice. I'm Rabbi Jonathan Bernis. Well, today we're digging deep into archaeology and offering you a very special opportunity to own, listen to this, own a piece of the holiest place on the planet. I'm joined today by world-renowned archaeologist and Bible scholar, Dr. Randall Price. He's the founder and president of the World of the Bible Ministries, and he's a veteran of 30 years of excavation in the Middle East and has made 115 trips to Israel. I don't know about you, I'm jealous. Through the Temple Mount Sifting Project, he's helped uncover and preserve priceless treasures, artifacts that once again verify the accuracy and the truth of the Bible. The Bible is true, and it's been proven over and over again through archaeological digs in the Middle East. You are a renowned archaeologist. You are the one that I trust for accurate information. How did this come about? How did you get into archaeological excavations in the Middle East? Just give us a background. Interestingly enough, it really has a touch point with the Temple Mount because I was in Jerusalem at a time back in the 80s when there was organizations that were trying to do things to build the temple, or at least prepare for the building of the temple. And that took me, I got involved with them, I learned about things, and I realized that so much of what we see has no evidence. I mean, people talk about it, but there are claims made. But you see today, for instance, in the political realm, people deny a temple ever existed. They deny that there was a Temple Mount, that any of these things that are part of Jewish history simply were fiction. Go to Israel and that will be resolved. Yeah, it will. Archaeology in Israel is what enables us to break out that past and confirm those things in the present. So that led me to go on to get a degree, went to Hebrew University, went to the University of Texas at Austin, got involved with archaeological excavation, got excavations of my own, particularly at the Dead Sea, at the place of the Dead Sea Scrolls. And that really had me involved on many different levels with Israeli archaeologists as well as with the events of the time. And amazing projects like Noah's Ark as well. I remember talking to you about that. Yes, still ongoing. Yeah, amazing. Well, let's focus on the sifting, the Temple Mount sifting project. What's that about? Well, back just before the year 2000, the Muslim authorities decided they would change the status quo of the Temple Mount. They would create a new mosque. This was under Fatah, Yasser Arafat, all this. They wanted to create a 10,000-seat mosque that would rival those in other parts of the Muslim world. And in doing so, they had to dig up 20,000 tons of archaeological debris on the Temple Mount. Did they have permission from the Israeli government? No, no authorization. But see, at this point, they had already rejected Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. They weren't listening to the authorities anymore. But what's worse is it had no archaeological supervision. And so all of this was taken and tossed into garbage dumps much into the Kidron Valley. And as a result of it being in the Kidron Valley, some of the archaeological students in Israel went and sifted through it on their own. But I want to be clear, they're digging up history. They're actually digging through history. With bulldozers with no regard to what is there. It's just dark to them. And that's being discarded so they can put the mosque in place of this. But they're digging up Jewish history. It is a favor doing that because they, by taking this and discarding it, and by archaeological students finding it, realize there's a whole treasure trove here. And so that material was picked up and moved to a secure location. And over the last 12 years has been sifted through a process called wet sifting to get even the most minute artifacts. And it's resulted in amazing finds directly from the Temple Mount, which they could not have done on their own. A messy way of doing archaeology for sure. But the significance of it, just summarize the significance of what you found in the soil. Well, the significance is that we have now not just the testimony of extra-biblical things concerning the Temple Mount and the history of the Jewish people. We have the actual artifacts. A continual record through time that was excavated just in this one area. So there's as much as 6,000 coins. There's structural pieces of the actual temple. There's the tiles that constructed to make the floors of the temple, which we know about from the Mishnah. Now we have the actual examples. There have been seals with biblical names on them. All these type of things form a picture of what really happened. And of course that pushes back against this idea of occupation and the Jews somehow took the land and no temple existed because the archaeological record shows the only people there were the Jewish people. So there's literally tons of soil left. This is sacred soil. What was done with it? The soil that remained is sacred soil. The only place on earth this soil exists is in the hands of these archaeologists who were able to preserve it. So what we've done is, because we know the public would love to have some touch point too, with this ancient history, we've put this in special bottles like this, commemorative bottles. That is the soil, the actual soil? This is the actual soil. This can be worn. It's a pendant. But a person who has this has in his hands the physical remains of the temple through time. Dr. Price, this is so exciting. The actual soil, Temple Mount soil, that dates all the way back to the first temple, the second temple, ashes from the sacrifices, unbelievable. It's an incredible keepsake. But there's more to soil than just the fact that it's from the Temple Mount. Talk about, I mean, there's biblical significance to soil. Certainly. I mean, this is from Mount Moriah itself, the mountain where God promised and brought Abraham, brought Isaac, and showed the picture of redemption through the Messiah. All of this is part of that history. And my understanding is Moriah also is where Yeshua, where Jesus was sacrificed on the cross. In the mountains of Moriah. Right, part of the same area, Moriah. It's also all part of God's purpose and plan, not only for the past, but also for the future. So something like this connects someone with all of God's purpose and plan through the ages. But I think a very important point is that in the past, in the Bible, there was one man, Naaman the leper. He was a Syrian. He was a commander. He was an enemy of Israel. And it was a last resort. He went to Israel because he was told the only place he could find healing was from the prophets of God. Great story. And he resisted all the way to the end. But finally, he is healed. And as a result of that healing, when he goes back to his native country, he takes some of the soil of the land of Israel. And he says, from now on, wherever I am, when I pray, I'm putting this soil down and I'm kneeling on it to pray because the God of the universe, the God who did a miracle in my life, is the one who this soil represents. God does miracles in our life. We want to be connected to the place where the greatest of miracles took place and where they will still take place in the future. In Judaism, we have no icons, we have no images of humans, but actual soil from the Temple Mount. What a connection, faith connection. Well, that's because the Bible talks about God, the land, and the people. They're joined together. And so land, soil, makes a big difference. And it is the place, I believe, where Jesus, Yeshua, will be ruling and reigning in the future. So it's not just the past, but it's a future reminder too. And when we think about the nations of the world, Isaiah 2 says, all the nations will stream to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, to learn His law, His ways, walk in His paths. All of that will take place at the very place the soil comes from. Now, there's a bigger picture to the project. There is. Talk about the bigger picture. What is the ultimate commitment of the Temple Mount Soil Project? Archaeology in Israel, so little is actually done. I would say only about 1% of all the possible sites have been excavated. It's because of funding. The money is just not there. The government only supplies certain things. This Temple Mount Soil Project was a salvage excavation. It was preserving, saving, priceless treasures that would have been lost had they not done this. So it really backfired on them to some extent. To the Muslims, it did, yes. Here's the value. With the creation of this, businessmen got involved because, one, they wanted to have a product they could offer to the public, but, two, they wanted to find a way to help support the Temple Mount Sifting Project. So a portion of the proceeds from every sale of these things go to support the ongoing work of the Temple Mount Sifting Project. So everyone that gets one will actually be helping the furthering of archaeological evidence that continues to prove the Jews have been there. Archaeology proves they've been there for 3,500 years. Let's get into the details of what was found in the sand. Well, amazing things, actually. You find everything from jewelry from different periods of time to the coinage. Coinage started in the 6th century B.C. in Israel, and all of this has been found in one form or another from the very beginning of coins to the very end, which tells you you have this history throughout time on the Temple Mount. And, of course, you find the wonderful coins that are used, the shekel, that were used for the payment of the tax and the payment for things on the Temple. But structures, I mean, actual stones with ornamented stones that came directly from the Temple Mount, which we don't have today because of the destruction of the Temple. Most of these things were reused or taken away. But then you also have these wonderful things related to seals, which have names on them. So not only do we have a seal coming from the past, but it connects with the Bible with the very name of the people involved. There's no doubt, then, that the Jewish people, that this is the correct spot of the Temple Mount and that this area was inhabited by Jews. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there have been different theories of different places, but this proves the point. And it's the only time and the only place where this has been possible. You know, we haven't been able to dig before. Now we have the evidence. Now we can go through it. We just need to do more of it. Dr. Price, I'm really intrigued by the findings of this project. They confirm that this is, in fact, the site of the First and Second Temple. It's indisputable. And that this is Jewish land. Talk about some other specific things that you found that very, very clearly confirm the accuracy of Scripture and that this is the Temple. Of course, we have entire books written about this because there's that much evidence available. I would say just not long ago, right outside where, from the same soil, but right outside the wall, an area called the Ophel, just outside the southern area where the soil came from, they found these bule. These are seals. So there was one of the King Hezekiah. And next to it, not far away, one that had the name of the prophet Isaiah. And remember, three different books of the Bible talk about this invasion by Sennacherib to try to take over Jerusalem. And the Bible says that King Hezekiah went and prayed. And God says, because you have prayed, I have heard you. And I will save this city for my name's sake and my servant David's sake. And a miracle occurred. Sennacherib, in his own annals, which we have archaeologically, say, you know, I had him shut up like a bird in a cage. King Hezekiah. But I couldn't take him. Because God intervened. And after that, Sennacherib loses his life in a coup. And that's all written and prophesied by Isaiah. But to find these two seals, right, almost side by side, verifies not only the history of the event of the biblical miracle, but also tells us this was, again, right then and there in the 7th, 8th century B.C., the place where the Jewish people lived, where they had their kingdom. There was no doubt of this. And it just continues to confirm the legitimacy and the accuracy of the scriptures, of the texts. Yeah, archaeology does that. There are people who don't know always how to put the pieces together. But if you simply read the Bible literally and you take the archaeological finds, not every find matches the Bible. But more than likely, they always do. I mean, many people dispute whether there was an Isaiah or a Hezekiah. But we have the archaeological proofs. There's so many other examples of things that are being found, archaeological finds, recently that continue to confirm the accuracy of scripture and that the Jewish people occupied this land 3,500 years ago. Yes. I mean, everything from Joshua's altar, where they entered the land that's been found, a little inscription that has the oldest name of God we know at this point. We find inscriptions by the enemies of Israel mentioning King David, the house of David, which was one time disputed. Now, it's indisputable. The same thing goes on and on and on as we go through, like the Dead Sea Scrolls, for instance, which have this whole, they're portions of the Bible, of course, but they're also history of the Jewish people during that time, which document for us again and again that they were there occupying all of this land because it was their land given to them by God. I wish that people that were spreading these fallacies about colonialism, about apartheid, about Israel having no right to the land or ever living in the land would just become illiterate, that become literate, they're illiterate. They're revising history. I mean, you know that Abraham was given the land by God into covenants, but also King David, when he went up to the threshing floor of Orna and the Jebusite, which is on Mount Moriah, purchased it with money. It tells us how much he paid. So that soil was purchased by King David, and that's where the temple was built. So these are all things. The land. Eretz, the land. Yeah. And imagine you can own a piece, you can have a real estate ownership. It's going to be small, but it's going to be significant. I just love that. What's next for the sifting project, for the Temple Mount sifting project? Well, the sifting project is involved with actually doing sifting for many of the archaeological excavations in Israel. They developed this process of wet sifting, which leaves no stone unturned, literally. And as a result, they are kind of a warehouse for a great many archaeological excavations. That's exciting. But they've just finished most of the work with the Pilgrim Road, which is now open in Israel. The road that goes from the Shilohak, or the Pool of Siloam, all the way up to the Temple Mount itself. And all of that was buried. All of that has been sifted at the present time. I can't wait to hear what they find. It's amazing. One last question, and this is just a tease. We can't do it on this program, but I want to have you back. And I want to focus on the Temple Mount. Is there activity on the Temple Mount? Is there anything happening to try to rebuild the Temple? I know many of you want to know that. We're not going to get into it in depth today, but yes or no? Absolutely. Yeah, well. Yeah. I'm going to invite you back. Watch closely for this, because I'm going to have Dr. Price back, and we're going to talk about specifically what's happening now to rebuild the Temple, and what the significance of rebuilding the Temple really is about, because it's very, very significant. Every time you give to Jewish Voice, you'll get a double blessing. You'll receive resources to encourage your faith, like this wonderful keepsake necklace that contains sacred soil from the Temple Mount. You'll have real estate from the First and Second Temple, period. And you'll know that by joining with us at Jewish Voice, you're bringing healing. You're bringing hope and the message of Yeshua, Jesus, to Jewish people and their neighbors worldwide. Don't miss this opportunity. When you partner with Jewish Voice, together we bring hope and help to Jewish people and their neighbors around the world. In Israel, your generosity is providing food for struggling families and restoring dignity to Holocaust survivors through free medical and dental care. In Africa and beyond, you're opening doors for Jewish communities to encounter the compassion of Yeshua. Through clean water projects, medical outreaches, and life-saving aid, every clinic, every meal, and every prayer shared reveals the love of the Messiah in a tangible way. And as local believers are trained and equipped to lead, entire communities are being transformed for generations and eternities to come. When you become a Chai Monthly Partner, for just $18 a month, you'll receive the Sacred Soil Necklace, containing earth and ash from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. At the Shalom Level, for $36 a month, you'll also receive the Devotional Portions and a Hear O Israel Bookmark. And when you join at the Elif Level, for $84 a month, you'll receive all this plus the Temple Stone Plaque, a beautiful reminder of God's dwelling place in Jerusalem. Your gift brings hope, healing, and the message of salvation to Jewish people and their neighbors in need. Please don't wait. Call, write, or visit JewishVoice.tv to give today. Friends, this is why your partnership matters. Proclaiming the good news of Yeshua, meeting urgent needs, and standing with Israel. We invite you to continue to discover more about the Jewish roots of your Christian faith. You can visit us at JewishVoice.tv where you'll find resources to help you grow spiritually and opportunities to join in the mission of reaching Jewish communities with the good news of Yeshua. As we wrap up, we want to take a moment, as we always do, to pray for you and your needs. And Dr. Price, I'm going to ask you to do the honors to look in that camera and just to pray over people. We get lots of prayer requests and we pray for every person by name that writes to us. God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you know those who are listening today. You know the needs of their life. You know the urgency of some of those needs. And you alone can meet those needs. You have promised to do that because you have the power to do it. And we ask, Lord, that if there is any who hadn't listened to this program and hearing about the things about Israel and the land of Israel, and particularly the Messiah of Israel, may be seeking Him. And we pray, Lord, that you would open their heart to seek further, to take that step forward and recognize that He is the one who was given by God to meet all those needs, particularly those spiritual needs, so that we ourselves can have a relationship with the living God. We ask this in the name of Yeshua, our Messiah. Amen. Thank you for being part of today's program. I want to remind you, as I always do, to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Psalm 122.6 says, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love thee. May this season lead you closer to the heart of God and fill your life with peace and His presence. On behalf of Dr. Price and myself, shalom, peace, and God bless you. Thank you so much for watching. Please click below to subscribe. Check out more of our videos and learn more about Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, Jewish culture, Jewish traditions, and holidays, as well as the importance of Israel. Shalom and God bless.