The Mystery at Magdala

I finally got to go to Magdala with a tour guide, and wow, this place is even more incredible than I first realized! 

Obviously nothing beats the fact that Jesus was there, in that first century B.C. synagogue—one of only 7 that have been discovered. If fact, it boggles my mind to even think about it. 

But what I didn't know is why this site is so well preserved, and why the main street next to it is barricaded with broken columns.

My tour guide pointed out to us that there is only 1 column still partially standing in the ruins of the synagogue. And how does this correlate with the blocked main street? Why?

The answer lies in the Great Revolt of 67 AD, around the same time that Gamla fell. Magdala was one of the few cities that stood up to the Romans as they made their campaign from the north through the south—all the way to Jerusalem. At some point, the inhabitants made a previously unthinkable decision. To protect their town, and the synagogue, they removed the columns from the synagogue and used them to barricade the entrance to their town. They also covered over the synagogue to keep it from being destroyed by the Romans.

Magdala was destroyed, but because of the forethought of the Madgalenes, the synagogue was preserved until 2009 AD, when its remains were discovered just 30 centimeters below the surface. 

WOW!!!

But that's not the mystery I wanted to share with you. The mystery is this:

While a replica of the Magdala stone is in the synagogue, the original is in the lobby of the hotel. (AMAZING!!!) Because this synagogue is from 1st Century AD, before the destruction of the 2nd Temple, we know that its decoration was fashioned after the Temple. This is one of the earliest known depictions of the menorah from the Temple. Here it stands on a base, which matches the image of the Menorah on the Arch of Titus in Rome.

(picture mine)

This is intriguing, because other images of the menorah don't show a base, but a 3-point stand. For instance, here is one from the Talmudic village of ancient Katzrin in the Golan:

And here, from the Museum in Katzrin. This relief also dates back to the Talmudic (Byzantine) era:

These carvings are from only a few centuries after Jesus. So which is correct? There has appeared to be a discrepancy between the Arch of Titus and the earliest depictions of the menorah that have been found—until the Magdala stone. The fact that it has a base might not be creative license; it might be a carving of the actual menorah, which is the ancient symbol for Israel (not the Star of David).

Which is correct?

Could it be that the menorah for the Temple is in Rome (the Vatican) after all? What do you think?

Walking the streets of Magdala- finally!

In 2020, I wrote about the incredible discovery at Magdala and how I wanted to go the next time I was in Israel. It has been a dream of mine for years! So when the semester ended last week, I headed out to the Galilee. 

WOW.

It was Shabbat, an unusually warm January day, and because of covid-19, there still weren't any foreign tourists allowed in Israel. So there I was, pretty much alone, strolling through Mary Magdalene's former hometown, a fishing village.

There, you can see the old market, with the main street, 

the residential area, 

the port (the Sea of Galilee, which is only about 7 miles wide at its widest point and 17 miles long) shrinks every year, so the port is much higher than one might expect, 

a beautiful chapel commemorating Jesus' ministry in the Galilee, and...

the synagogue, where, according to Matthew 4:23, Jesus spoke. 

As I talked about here, this is one of those places where we can place Jesus not only in the town or walking the main street, but in an actual room. I about lost my mind. 

After exploring this incredible place—you can still see pigmentation on the remains of columns and walls, and part of an old mosaic—I sat down and began to read from Matthew. There, on Shabbat, in front of the synagogue where Jesus spoke on a Shabbat millennia ago. It was incredible!

There are so many small treasures that have been found and are still being unearthed in Magdala, like brick ovens, mosaics in other places. It's all so interesting, but this was the crown jewel for me. 

However, did you hear about this? Recently there's been another INCREDIBLE discovery in Magdala:

A SECOND SYNAGOGUE!!!!

This one is in a residential area, which I didn't see. I think it is still being uncovered. But, how incredible! The articles I read say that this sheds a lot of light on thought and culture in the first century. I hope to go back and explore it one day!

Also, here's one more photo as a bonus, as seen on the way to Madgala: Mount Hermon covered in snow!

Discovery at Magdala

So, while I was in Israel in 2017, I learned something very interesting about the land itself.

Because there are so many unexplored archaeological sites (and many that no one knows about because they are buried so deep), people will just randomly stumble on ancient artifacts. When that happens, everything shuts down and they need to call in officials. When people buy property, they can build on the land, but anything found in the land (or under the earth) belongs to Israel. It's like how in Texas you can buy property and own land, but not own the mineral rights (so if you find oil, it's not yours').

In fact, my tour guide had a friend in that very predicament. He bought property to build a house, and when they started, the remains of a Philistine settlement were found. So the friend had to stop construction while archaeologists moved in. Fast forward many years later and everything has been excavated and the friend finally has his house—on top of a museum of Philistine artifacts. 😂

Something similar happened at Magdala a few years ago. In 2009, Fr Juan Solana purchased land in Magdala, Israel, in order to build a guesthouse for pilgrims. During the mandatory archaeological testing, they discovered something amazing—the remains of "the only first century synagogue on the Sea of Galilee – one of only seven synagogues from this period in the world – along with the archaeological remains of the 2,000 year-old city of Magdala" (quote and photo from here).

In Israel, there are 4 kinds of places: places with no official record of Jesus officially being there, places where Jesus was in the area so it likely could be where you were standing, places where we know it happened either "here" or "there", and places where we know without a fact that Jesus was there.

The discovery of the synagogue is the latter—with a certainty we can say that Jesus was here, and likely taught in this very synagogue. WOW!

When I was there in 2017, this location wasn't available for me to visit. It is, however, open to the public. Needless to say, it's now on my list! Maybe on my trip in March? That would be awesome!