Archaeologists in Israel UNCOVER Ancient Bible City | Danny "The Digger" Herman | Stakelbeck Tonight

Intro he rebuilds Jerusalem's Temple mount the whole uh Temple of the Jews is redone the second temple herod's temple yes it's technically actually a third Temple okay and here he takes a sandune in an area of swamps and creates the biggest man-made Port not just in this region in the whole Roman Empire coming up on stackle tonight welcome to cesaria this was one of the most strategic port cities of the entire Roman empire built by Herod the Great on the shores of the Mediterranean today it's home to some incredibly well preserved Roman ruins but cesaria was also home to some of the most important events of the New Testament from the Centurion Cornelius and the Apostle Peter to the imprisonment of the Apostle Paul even punctus pilate had a role to play in this city and today our good friend Danny the Digger Herman is back to show us how this site is where Christianity went from a local Jewish movement to a global one stackle bck tonight Starts [Music] Now Well Danny the Digger it is great to Cesaria have you back with us here always is a pleasure man and what a nice day today incredible and we are at one of the most important ports of the ancient Roman world that's number one Danny number two one of the most iconic and pivotal sites in the New Testament where are we right now totally welcome to cesaria maritima okay quesaria in Hebrew the city that was named after uh Augustus family Julius Caesar who uh turn Rome into an Empire and then his adopted son becomes the sole ruler and his uh vessel King here in Judea is Herod Herod the Great and Herod once he's appointed by him he has to show his gratitude so he builds a whole city and names it after him now cesaria is a city uh that uh was known for a few places this is the cesaria by the Sea cesaria maritima beautiful the shores of the Mediterranean we some people actually fishing behind us as well totally and yet 2,000 years ago Herod founded the city for what he created behind me a port the biggest man-made port in the whole Roman Empire at that time was created by that Herod he was an amazing entrepreneur and we are standing in what used to be his own very private Palace wow your feet are an original Mosaic floor from herod's time 2,000 years old yes connecting the parts by the uh on the land to a whole section that was right on the water Eric this rectangular pool was either for fishing or for swimming that pedestal in the Middle East maybe where there was a sculpture of either Herod or Augustus himself and the only thing left of it today is uh that was built up is the wall on the left side imagine a twostory building here showing herodian wealth wow and you know he called this place Danny uh caesaria cesaria in honor of Augustus Caesar yes this was the king of of Israel at the time Herod the Great uh renaming this spot after a Roman Emperor this must not have gone over too well with the Jewish people here in the land of Israel of course the Jews were uh controlled by the mbes for over a hundred years until the Romans show up and then this guy Herod convinces them put me in charge I'll Be A Better Tax Collector than the the Jewish one yeah okay and they are convinced or a good is convinced and he has to deliver taxing the people to a maximum level is not enough he has to generate more economical traffic and he becomes Eric in retrospect the biggest entrepreneur in the history of this land he re builds Jerusalem's Temple mount the whole uh Temple of the Jews is redone the second temple herod's temple yes it's technically actually a third Temple okay and here he takes a sandun in an area of swamps and creates the the biggest man-made Port not just in this region in the whole Roman Empire the master builder of Israel you and I have gone to these sites now we're at cesaria herodium Mada the second temple even in Jordan Maus yes we we've viewed about three or four of his sites already and his legacy is still felt today in the land totally totally and the guy really transformed this land not just uh economically but also culturally behind us over here you have a theater a hippodrome okay bath houses Herod also brings Roman culture into this land Mosaic floors are introduced in his days with these geometric decorations and he will really change this land in an unprecedented way yeah and we're standing on one of those Mosaic floors right now as you said Danny 2,000 years old and one of the things that strikes me about cesaria in addition to the history obviously pretty well preserved the ruins here the Roman Theater here which we'll see in a bit is incredible yes this City flourish for about a thousand years but once the Crusaders are expelled sand covers up their remains and it preserves them this specific flow was exposed in the 1970s and look the original part is to a great extent intact and we will see the Hippodrome the bath house most of the port has sunk but the parts that are still visible are also very very impressive the other thing we need to get into Danny is look this was a pivotal site in the New Testament and I'm talking the apostles Paul and Peter and Peter give us a little background on Paul's history here in cesaria from the book of Acts he goes to Jerusalem and starts preaching and the priests don't like him so the priest eventually convinces uh the Romans to put him on trial but Paul says wait I'm a citizen I'm not just someone living in the province I'm a Roman citizen I have a right to be Tri by the emperor himself that was a big deal when he said look I'm a Roman citizen they're ready to beat Paul they were kind of smacking him around and he says hey wait a minute yeah you don't know who you're hitting here to be a Roman citizen a huge deal in the ancient world yes they had tax exemptions they had more rights yeah so the governor says okay you want to be sent to Rome I'll send you to Rome and we don't know why once he's brought here to cesaria instead of being put on the first boat sailing to Rome he's actually kept here for two years in the local prison yeah he's in prison for 2 years uh the Apostle Paul after you know the Ruckus in Jerusalem uh and we actually have the spot where he just might have been imprisoned right here in cesaria and you're going to show us right a relatively new find from the 1990s has presented possible evidence I don't have proof but possible circumstantial evidence for the location of the prison of Paul here in cesaria well let's go take a look Danny lead the way okay The Apostle Paul Danny so we left off in Jerusalem the Apostle Paul is there there he's preaching the gospel the priests do not like it they lay hands on him they arrest him they start to physically assault him he says wait a minute how dare you I am a Roman citizen and I have rights I have rights I appeal to Caesar I'm going to Rome to State my case now they back off they say uhoh he's a Roman citizen but on his way to Rome he makes a rather long pit stop right here in cesaria why first of all this is the only proper function funing city with a port over 100 cargo boats could dock in what Herod created but we don't know why he's not put on the first boat selling to Rome but he's actually kept here for two years the text says he's kept in the pratorum of cesaria now we know pum is a place of Trials Jesus was sentenced in the pum of Jerusalem was there a trial place over here that's what Archaeology suggests yeah first of all you have at the entrance two descriptions attesting to the existence of a police unit over here and this very Hall where you are standing Eric with this pavement is suggested to be the place where prisoners and people appealing to the governor would appear wow so this is kind of where you're appearing before the judge in a sense uh the place you mentioned with the two inscriptions Danny that's the possible site of Paul's actual imprisonment from ad 58 to ad60 roughly now before he got the chance to appeal In This Very spot 2,000 years ago where we're standing right now uh there was an attempt at a bribe by the Roman Governor tell us about that at first when he appears in front of the governor Felix maybe right over here Felix even offers him bribery to to release the case but it doesn't happen he stays here maybe he then writes some of the Epistles while he's in prison and then a new governor called Festus is in position he appears in front of him again agrias second comes for a visit and he talks to him as well which is a very interesting dialogue he almost convinces him he does you know the Bible says King Herod agria comes here with his wife and he's with now the governor Festus as you said succeeded Felix Felix never got that bribe Paul Paul never Cav he stuck to his guns as was his Mo but Herod AG grippa is here and Paul Danny again possibly standing where we are standing right now Appeals to Herod Agrippa and he says what's the problem Herod you believe in the resurrection of the dead I'm being persecuted because I believe in the resurrection of the Dead I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and a great uproar ensues and people are arguing and they're disagreeing yeah all right here it may have happened at this very location this was the last time from here in cesaria Danny that the Apostle Paul uh set foot in the land of Israel this was it yes and once he left for Rome he never returned this was his final departure point from Israel Cesar both he and Peter Christianity if you wish moves from here to Rome yeah the gospel arguably the two most important Disciples of Jesus uh from here left for R the gospel in essence folks went out yes from we're going to talk us about Peter and another major event that happens in cesaria later on in the show but before we do that you've got a treat for us right yes if you zoom out and and look around you you can see just how Roman was the city that Herod created yes he's governing over the Jews but he's put here by the Romans he when he wants to show the Romans just how Roman he was so he's the first one to introduce a theater a very well-preserved theater is used to this day Eric for for concerts Herods Theater wow look at this hey Danny one of the best examples of herod's romanization of the land introducing a theater in this absolutely incredible I am astounded at how well preserved this 2,000-year-old Roman Theater is yes it's in such good condition that they actually use it today as well yeah still I have actually been Danny to uh shows here musical concerts right here in this theater rock operas concerts Israeli performers International performers you name it this is such a magical place to see a a performer with the Mediterranean there in the back really a great place yeah the backdrop really I think makes it in a sense you're you're looking at not only the stage the performer uh but the Mediterranean now Danny we are sitting inside an incredibly well-preserved Roman Theater but what is the difference between a theater and an Amphitheater yes a lot of people mistakenly think that this is an Amphitheater a lot of Israelis call it ampon ampi means a double like an amphibian okay this is not an amphibian performance it's a place for a place where you watch and see a play in front of you the Romans will take that Greek concept and attach two theaters together mostly for blood shows but this is not the case this is a place where you still saw the classical comedy and tragedy of of Greek uh script writers uh you would have the orchestra which was the choir standing here in the middle and the whole thing with the Mediterranean in the back yeah Danny as you said there were no blood Sports here in the theater thankfully but there is an Amphitheater in the back uh also well preserved and a hippodrome wow you think of the movie benur yeah the famous chariot races what would have gone down in that Hippodrome horse races was also part of a Roman type of entertainment and Herod is the one to bring Roman culture in all its might theaters amphitheaters Hipp drones bath houses you name it the master and this one is so preserved the an Italian team actually excavated here already in the 1960s in search of sculptured remains in the backstage among others they actually found where the stairway is a stone that was recycled originally in Roman times it was used to uh Mark the entry to a temple that was built by Pontius Pilatus punctus pilot yes the governor that tried Jesus that sentenced him to death was mentioned on an inscription found here and actually theater yes there were dozens of inscriptions found all over cesaria some of them highly related to the New Testament now that punctus pilot inscription you mentioned on a previous show you took us to the Israel Museum where the actual inscription is kept yes that's where it's shown to the public here at the site one can see a replica of it and it's all an amazing testimony for the life here also in the time of the gospels in the time of the book of Acts yes so wow another profound new testament link here in cesaria we talked about the Apostle Paul Danny uh now punctus pilot yes now we're going to see possibly the most fascinating New Testament link to cesaria the Apostle Peter very very strong link and a presence here that had a profound impact on Christianity yes for me cesaria from a Christian point of view is mostly important because of the event of Peter and Cornelius the RO officer the first non-jew to be baptized and accepted to the Christian faith and without that Danny I would not be sitting here right now as a gentile Christian yes very possible yeah so let's go take a look [Music] The Baptism of Cornelius well Danny we're wrapping up here in beautiful cesaria and we talked about the Apostle Paul his imprisonment here even punctious pilot had a role to play here but to my mind the most pivotal New Testament event to take place here was the conversion of the Roman Centurion Cornelius to Christianity set the backdrop for us the first non-jew to accept Jesus and according to the book of Acts an angel appears to him and instructs him to say sends his servants to Jaffa about 20 mi away that's just south of here on the Mediterranean Coastline yes and why well at that very time Danny the Apostle Peter Simon Peter was taking a nap on the roof of Simon the Tanner and he had a vision a dramatic Vision a sheep coming down from heaven probably a toite some believe with a bunch of unclean animals unclean according to Jewish law and of the voice of God said arise Peter kill and eat and Peter said not so Lord I've never eaten anything impure it's against the law of against the law and this happens three times and the voice of God says what I have made clean you shall not call impure three times this happens Danny at that moment those Servants of Cornelius three of them who you told us about knock at the door Peter comes downstairs they say hey our Master had a vision from the Lord he wants you to come to cesaria here where we're standing right now to meet Cornelius and they go on the journey yeah and as he reaches cesaria Cornelius approaches him greets him and eventually asks him to to baptize him now I can imagine Peter at that moment scratching his head hold on yeah he's not a Jew he's not circumcise he doesn't keep the Sabbath he he doesn't keep kosher none of this okay but then the Holy Spirit descends comes upon Cornelius and his friends and his relatives who are all gathered there to meet Peter very excited and God pours his Spirit out on them they start speaking in tongues like on Pentecost Peter takes a step back and says wow okay if they've been baptized with the Holy Spirit surely I can baptize them with water that's exactly what he does and man that that sheet that came down in japa now we see God says they are Gentiles yes but they're not impure I've given my word and my spirit to them as well and what do we have Cornelius becomes a Christian a Christian the very first non-jew yeah to accept Christ and it happened here it happened here and nowadays you have two billion people that are not Jewish including you that's right and it's thanks to the event that happened here yeah history was yeah such an amazing moment in Christian history yeah history was changed here folks I would not be standing here without Cornelius and the events that took place here right in cesaria Danny what a way to close the show yes on a high note my friend a what a place what a day as always to [Music] back in Jerusalem after an incredible day on the shores of the Mediterranean in cesaria now the book of Acts chapter 10 makes very clear that Cornelius was respected by all the Jewish people folks that's no coincidence the Book of Genesis says that God will bless those who bless Israel and the Jewish people that's exactly what Cornelius did did and he in turn was blessed what an honor what a privilege to become the first non-jewish follower of Jesus in all of history and it all happened in cesaria stackle backck tonight my allnew nightly series on current events through a bold biblical lens make sure you hit the Subscribe button so you never miss an upload and tap the Bell icon so you're notified every time a new video was posted and don't forget to share your thoughts insights and comments below thanks for watching and God bless