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Religion Today Feature Story a close-up look at the people, issues and events making news http://link.crosswalk.com/UM/T.asp?A1.8.25528.1.1698058 Cave Sheds Light on John the Baptist, Archeologist Says Julie Stahl Jerusalem Bureau Chief Kibbutz Tzuba, Israel (CNSNews.com) - A recently discovered cave near Jerusalem could be the place where the New Testament prophet John the Baptist developed his ideas and got his start before he began baptizing multitudes in the Jordan River, archeologists said on Tuesday. Although the cave's significance was discovered several years ago, it was kept a quasi-secret for scientific reasons until Monday, when archeologists decided to go public with their findings. Dr. Shimon Gibson, a British-born archeologist, said he believes that the find will shed new light on the life of John the Baptist and baptism itself. * * * * * * * * * * * * ADVERTISEMENT * * * * * * * * * * * Learn how your character can be transformed into that of Christ when Dallas Willard, Larry Crabb, & John Ortberg join together in bringing you the "Renovation of the Heart" DVD series. Click to learn more: http://l.salemweb.net/lifesprings0804/fs/081904/ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "By fitting together all of the new archeological facts with the basic historical information that has been available (sometimes even buried) in scholarly literature for a long time -- I believe I am able to throw an amazing amount of light on the personality and mission of John the Baptist -- the man, the prophet," said Gibson. The cave -- actually a cistern -- is located at the bottom of a rocky cliff in the orchards of the community of Kibbutz Tzuba, near Ein Kerem where John the Baptist was born, about seven miles from Jerusalem. Although members of Kibbutz Tzuba -- the Biblical Tzova -- had known about the cave for years, it was member Reuven Kalifon who suggested that Gibson take a look at it. "We have an orchard there," said Kalifon. "Everybody at one time or another in his life would work in the orchards. In the wintertime, it would start raining, and people would look for a shelter." The opening to the cave, hidden by bushes and filled with mud, was barely big enough to scramble into, but once inside, it was very deep, he said. During a general survey that Gibson was conducting in the area in 1999, Kalifon suggested that he visit the cave. Inside the cave "We entered into the cave, we had to crawl on all fours, and then, behind a series of boulders against the walls -- the cave was full of soil almost up to the ceiling -- we were able to make out some drawings and move some of the boulders, and you could see the figure of John the Baptist," said Gibson. Excavations were then undertaken during the next four years on behalf of the University of North Carolina, he said. According to Gibson, the primitive cave drawings etched in the walls were probably used by Byzantine monks starting in the 4th century A.D. as a teaching tool to tell new monks about the story of John the Baptist and his significance to Christianity. Beneath the Byzantine-era finds in the cistern, Gibson and colleagues discovered a layer correlating to the time of John the Baptist. "Those installations that we uncovered there were totally different from Jewish ritual purification practices of the time, and they much fit into what we know about the rites that [John] performed, based on the description of the baptism down in the Jordan Valley," he said. Because of these findings, the proximity of the cistern to John's birthplace and the Byzantine tradition, which lasted hundreds of years, linking the cistern to John the Baptist, Gibson said he believes it could be the desert or wilderness place described in the Bible where John spent much of his youth. John the Baptist -- a contemporary of Jesus who heralded his coming -- preached repentance and baptized people for the "remission of sins," the Bible records. Although all four Gospels indicate that John baptized in the Jordan River -- nowhere near Kibbutz Tzuba -- Gibson said that he believes John had developed his ideas and practice of baptizing earlier, perhaps even in this cave. "The story of John down in the Jordan River has been highlighted in the Gospels for the obvious reason that that's the place Jesus was baptized by John, but this actually happened right at the end of his life," Gibson said. "He was born in Ein Kerem region, and one assumes that he was baptizing because he comes to the Jordan River with fully fledged ideas about baptism...In the Gospels, it talks about people from the city of Jerusalem streaming down to the Jordan River to be part of the rituals undertaken by John the Baptist, which means that basically, they knew about the rituals," he said. This particular cave contains those "archeological features" that can be "linked to the rites as they are depicted in the Gospels," he said. Gibson, who heads the Jerusalem Archeological Field Unit, a private research group, wrote a book on the findings, The Cave of John the Baptist, which is due to be published later this week. 'Terribly unusual' Egon Lass, an American archeologist who has been part of the excavations, described the site as "terribly unusual." Lass, who described himself as a "field archeologist" who does not indulge in theories, nevertheless said the findings at the site do not conflict with Gibson's claims. But even at a first glance, the site is extraordinary, he said. Twenty-eight "monumental steps" lead from the outside through the opening all the way down to the floor of the cistern. They are "monumental" because they span the entire width -- about four meters -- of the cistern, said Lass. As one descends the stairs, there is a large niche on the right side, which could have been used for bathers to place their clothing. "Now, that would all be perfectly fine if you could go in three meters and hit a wall. Then you would have a mikveh [Jewish ritual immersion bath]," said Lass. But there is no wall. The cistern stretches for some 26 meters (85 feet) with a water reservoir at the far end and is about four meters (13 feet) high and wide. "This is huge," he said. "That's one thing that's unusual, very unusual." According to three separate experts who dated the plaster on the walls, the cistern was dug during the Iron Age between 800 and 500 B.C. -- which preceded any of the other ritual baths in the country by a number of years. As the excavations continued, the archeologists discovered a "huge stone" with an imprint of a large right foot. Next to it was a little basin connected by a channel that may have been used for some kind of oil or water anointing, Lass said. There was no such ritual in Jewish tradition. It was definitely connected to a ritual and not just something practical, like washing the dirt off one's feet because it only fits one foot, Lass said. They also found hundreds of thousands of pottery shards, mostly from two- to three-liter jugs, indicating that the jars were used in some kind of rite. At the bottom of the steps is a sandy pathway that would have made it easier for participants to walk through the cave to the immersion pool without hurting their feet. "This is also something that you don't find in a cave -- the pathway," Lass said. "People don't walk in water cisterns... "Now you put all this together, and you have the drawings on the walls. If you want to interpret the drawings according to a logical scheme the way [Gibson] has done...I think you come up with a logical picture," he said. Lass said the archeologists have not been in touch with the Vatican over their findings, but they were told by an Italian television reporter that thousands of people would now want to visit the site. "I hope people come and visit...it's a special site," said Kibbutz member Kalifon. "We're talking about a wonderful, wonderful site which is interesting for the Jewish public, and you can see the roots of Christianity." To read current World news stories, National news stories, and commentaries, visit http://link.crosswalk.com/UM/T.asp?A1.8.25528.2.1698058 ----------- For Copyright Terms visit http://link.crosswalk.com/UM/T.asp?A1.8.25528.3.1698058 ____________________SUBSCRIPTION INFO_______________________ * This newsletter is never sent unsolicited. To unsubscribe from this newsletter immediately, simply click on the link below. If this link is not clickable, simply cut and paste it into the address bar of your browser. http://www.salememail.com/unsub/8/1698058.aspx * Copyright � 2004 Salem Web Network and its Content Providers. All rights reserved. 1698058 ____________________________________________________________ Online predators know that more kids are online in the summer than at any other time of year. 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