Israel: Ancient Hebrew Coin Discovered In Judean Desert, ‘Year One Of The Redemption Of Israel’

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered a 2,000 year-old coin inscribed ‘Year One of the Redemption of Israel,’ from the time of the Jewish Bar Kochba Revolt against the Roman Empire in Judea, the Jerusalem Post reports.

Part of the Jewish-Roman wars, the Bar Kochba revolt was a major armed rebellion by the Jews of Judea led by Simon bar Kokhba against the Roman Empire in 132 AD. The revolt lasted around three years and, like the First and Second Roman-Jewish wars, resulted in the total defeat of the Jews.

The newly found coin was discovered at the Mazuq Ha-he’teqim Nature Reserve in the Judean Desert during a Desert Cave Survey carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority, JPost reports.

A rare find dated to the first year of the Revolt, the coin has the words ‘Year One of the Redemption of Israel’ surrounding a bunch of grapes inscribed on one side. The other side is engraved with a date palm and the name ‘Eleazar the Priest.’

It is not known for sure who Eleazer the Priest was, but scholars have posited that it might be Rabbi Eleazar Hamod‘ai, who played an important role in the Bar Kochba revolt and who lived in the town of Beitar from where the rebellion was orchestrated, JPost said.

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