Israeli archaeologists make a discovery that confirms the events described in the Gospel
The transformation of water into wine during a wedding feast is the first of the 11 miracles of Christ described by the apostles in the New Testament. Recall that the wedding was in full swing it turned out that the guests had drunk all the wine. And the mother of Jesus asked her son to somehow help out the embarrassed newlyweds. He ordered the servants to fill six large stone vessels with water - water-carriers. When the cupbearers filled the bowls of the guests with this water, it turned out that it had turned into expensive wine.
- Pay attention: it says stone vessels! Usually people who read the Gospel do not pay attention to this detail, but it is of great importance, says archaeologist Jonathan Adler of Ariel University. - The fact is that in ancient times, almost all people used earthenware for eating, drinking and storing food. It is affordable and easy to use. But the only people who ignored pottery and preferred stone dishes were Jews. This was due to the laws of ritual purity.
The Book of Leviticus, one of the sacred texts of the Old Testament, says that if an unclean animal - a mouse, rat, or lizard - touches an earthen vessel, then it also becomes unclean. The only way out in this case is to break the defiled dishes. But the Pentateuch says nothing about the ability of stone vessels to be damaged. Then the rabbis concluded that stone dishes have ritual "immunity." Therefore, according to Professor Adler, from the second half of the 1st century BC, during the reign of Herod the Great, mass production of stone tableware began in Israel. As a rule, limestone was used as a starting material, since there is a lot of it and it lends itself well to processing. It is from this tradition that the six stone waterpots described in the Gospel of John at the wedding feast arise. Guests, seeing such vessels,should have understood that the owners of the house are pious people and strictly follow religious precepts.
A workshop for the production of such dishes was accidentally discovered in the Arab village of Rheine during the construction of a sports center. This settlement is located not far from Nazareth (the city where Christ's childhood and youth passed) and within walking distance of the very Cana of Galilee, where the wedding feast took place and the wine was turned into water. Archaeologists excavated a quarry where they mined limestone and a workshop where dishes were cut out of it. On the walls of the quarry, you can see numerous traces from the blow of a chopper, and inside the scientists found hundreds of stone blanks and debris left after the manufacture of jugs, bowls and other kitchen utensils. Scientists have established the age of the workshop - it was about 2000 thousand years old. Hence it existed at the time of Jesus.
“Now we have material evidence that the stone vessels were made right here in Galilee,” says Dr. Adler. “And, probably, the stone waterpots that Jesus filled with precious wine were also made here. We know that two similar workshops were located near Jerusalem - their remains were found earlier. But there is no point in bringing the water carriers from there, when its large production was located in Cana.
It is clear that direct evidence of the authenticity of biblical events is now difficult to find. But when even such small details as these stone water-carriers find their confirmation, this causes greater confidence in the story of the apostles.
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VERBATIM
“On the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and His disciples were also invited to the marriage. And as the wine was lacking, the Mother of Jesus said to Him: They have no wine. Jesus says to her: what is to me and you, wife? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants: whatever He says to you, do it.
There were also six stone waterpots, standing according to the custom of cleansing the Jews, containing two or three measures. Jesus says to them: Fill the vessels with water. And filled them to the top. And he saith to them: Now draw up and carry to the master of the feast. And they carried it. When the steward had tasted the water that became wine - and he did not know where this wine came from, only the servants who drew the water knew - then the steward calls the groom and says to him: every man serves good wine first, and when they get drunk, then the worst; and you have saved good wine until now. This is how Jesus started miracles in Cana of Galilee and revealed His glory; and his disciples believed in him."
Gospel of John
Author: YAROSLAV KOROBATOV