The Herodian Family Tomb

In the morning we visited Nabi Samwil, the traditional tomb of the prophet Samuel. Some scholars think this may be the biblical Mizpah. Others believe that Mizpah should be identified by Tell en-Nahbeh.

Now Samuel called the people together to the LORD at Mizpah. (1 Samuel 10:17 ESV)

The site at Nabi Samwil provides a great view of the biblical territory of Benjamin.

Later we went to the traditional family tomb of Herod the Great (37 – 4 B.C.) which is located on the west side of the Old City, and behind the famous King David Hotel. We know from Josephus that Herod buried certain family members in Jerusalem (Wars 1:581). Herod was buried at the Herodium near Bethlehem.

This first photo shows the general area of the tomb which is cut from solid rock.

Herodian Family Tomb in Jerusalem. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins 2009.

The photo below shows the rolling stone. In more recent time a door has been places at the opening of the tomb. Murphy-O’Connor says the tomb was found empty because robbers got there before the archaeologists (The Holy Land).

Herodian Family Tomb Rolling Stone. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins 2009.

We also visited the Skirball Museum at the Hebrew Union College. Some artifacts from Gezer and Dan have been displayed at this small museum. Today we learned that the museum is closed. The lady at the reception desk said she did not know when or if it would be opened. She allowed us to look at a few items displayed in cases along a corridor among the offices. This was a disappointment. One item of interest that is in the poorly lit cases is a replica of the inscription from Dan that mentions the “god” who is in Dan.