First and 2nd Temple JERUSALEM tombs PROVE THE BIBLICAL NARRATIVE

Rock-cut tombs are mentioned in the Bible. As its written about the “Cave of Machpelah”, was purchased by Abraham for Sarah from Ephron the Hittite (Gen. 23:2) Hundreds of Jewish rock-cut tombs were constructed in Israel in ancient times. They were cut into the rock with elaborate facades and multiple burial chambers. Some are free-standing, but most are caves. The earliest Israelite tombs, which date to the 9th century BCE in Jerusalem. There are a great many Jewish tombs dating to the Second Temple period.

In the Silwan valley is the most important ancient cemetery of the First Temple period, is assumed to have been used by the highest-ranking officials residing in Jerusalem, the capital city of the Kingdom of Judah. Its tombs were cut between the 9th and 7th centuries BCE. It is located in the Kidron Valley across from biblical Jerusalem of the kings of Judah, in the lower part of the ridge where the village of Silwan now stands. The architecture of the tombs and the manner of burial is different from anything known from contemporary Palestine. Having entrances located high above the surface, gabled ceilings, straight ceilings with a cornice trough-shaped resting-places with pillows, above-ground tombs, and inscriptions engraved on the facade appear only here. There are three different types of tombs in the Silwan , each type concentrated in one specific area. Seven of the tombs feature gabledceilings and extremely fine stonework. They have been described as among the most beautifully rock-cut tombs known in the Jerusalem area even when compared with tombs of later periods A second tomb type has flat ceilings and one, two, or three chambers of well-dressed stone carefully squared into spacious rooms. One features a rear chamber of especially “impressive” scale and quality. There are tombs combining characteristics of the two described here above. A third type consists of just three “magnificent” First Temple monolith tombs, now located in the northern part of the village. These have been carved out of the cliff to create free-standing buildings above the underground burial chambers. Hebrew inscriptions survive on these three tombs; these are the only ancient inscriptions that survive in Silwan. The Silwan. monolith was first described as located under the courtyard of a modern-period house serving as a cistern. It has the finest and most delicate stone dressing in the Silwan . The upper story was destroyed for use as quarried stone in the Roman/Byzantine period. Only a small section of the inscription survived to be recorded by Ussishkin. The first line is “This is the burial of Z …”. The second line “the one who opens this tomb . ..” The third line was illegible. The Pillar of Absalom is in our day the most prominent edifice in the Kidron Valley, easily recognizable through its singular architecture: a round dome set on a square structure. Beside it we find the Tomb of Benei Hezir and the Tomb of Zecharia. At the foot of Ras Al-Amud, we find graves dated from the 8-7th Centuries BCE, and identified as part of the cemetery of the Jerusalem nobility from the Judean Kingdom. The best-known grave among these is a tomb called “Yehu Who Is Lord of the House,” after the inscription at its entrance.

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