
When he finished telling me all this, he held out his hand and said, "I know that you are religious people and would probably appreciate this. The olive leaf is from the Mount of Olives outside of Jerusalem. The pottery shard was uncovered during a road-widening process. It is part of a Second Temple lamp."
Well, I received this with gratitude. A year or so later, I had moved to San Francisco to complete my seminary studies. My Old Testament professor was an archeologist, so I showed him the shard. He agreed that the shape of the opening (where a wick would protrude) did indicate that the lamp had been in use during the time before the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by the Romans. There is every possibility that this little lamp was used during the time of Jesus.
4 comments:
Awesome. A gift from God.
Oh David, the story made me cry. What a precious gift. I can think of no one in the world to better intrust that shard to. I know that it means so much to you. I am glad that you shared it with us.
So ... I guess the medieval crack pipe comment was a little out of line.
But I knew they were burning something.
I still think it was a cinnamon roll.
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