2,000-Year-Old Coin with "Eleazor the Priest" engraved found in Israel

Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority

Israel has been Jewish land for several thousand years and archaeologists have uncovered a 2,000-year-old coin to prove it. The coin dates a century before the birth of Christ and is inscribed with the biblical name, "Eleazor the Priest," which experts believe is the likely reference to a religious leader of the time.

The rare coin was uncovered around a cave in the Mazuq Ha-he'teqim Nature Reserve in Israel and dates to the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt, which took place from 132-135 BC and involved a Jewish rebellion against Roman rule, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The coin was found alongside three other coins with the name “Simeon.” Those, too, date to the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

One side of the coin includes an engraved date palm with the Hebrew inscription “Eleazar the Priest” and the flip side has the Hebrew text "Year One of the Redemption of Israel." 

The Old Testament tells of an Eleazor who was a priest and was the son of Aaron. But the Israel Antiquities Authority said the Eleazor referenced on the coin is likely a priest from the time of the revolt. One possibility is Rabbi Eleazar Hamod’ai, "rabbi from the time of Rabbi Akiva, a pupil of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai."

"It seems that Rabbi Eleazar Hamod’ai played a significant religious role at the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt, and he was living in the town of Beitar -- the location of the revolt headquarters,” the IAA said. “The Talmud accounts that he died in Beitar, probably during the Revolt. (Jerusalem Talmud Ta’anit 4:5)."

The coins were found during a dig by the Israel Antiquities Authority in cooperation with the Ministry of Heritage and the Archaeological Office for the Military Administration of Judea and Samaria, [what the Palestinians calls the West Bank] with the "aim of retrieving the ancient treasures before they are stolen by antiquity looters," according to a news release.

So when Hamas or the Palestinians say that the Israelis are the occupiers, let them show proof they were there first.

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