The "nicer" caves had wooden floors built in them. We visited the house of Caiaphas. When telling people of this I start to cry.
There was a deep PIT (maybe 15-20 feet deep) in his "home" cave...and that is where Jesus was placed the night before he died. Jesus spent his last hours, not fed and stuck at the bottom of a pit.
How absolutely HORRIBLE for the Son of God.
I simply could NOT believe it: the visual impact, the smell, the rocky-hard surface of the cave, the muted echos in the large cave-home, the coldness of the cave.
I think that EVERY Christian ought to save his/her pennies and visit the Holy Land. Those Christians who do are CHANGED forever. I was.
From Google:
Joseph Caiaphas, known simply as Caiaphas (Greek: Καϊάφας) in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest who is said to have organized the plot to kill Jesus. Caiaphas is also said to have been involved in the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus.
The Babylonian Talmud (Yevamot 15B) gives the family name as Kuppai, while the Jerusalem Talmud (Yevamot 1:6) mentions Nekifi. The Mishnah, Parah 3:5 refers to him as Ha-Koph (the monkey), a play on his name for opposing Mishnat Ha-Hasidim.
According to the Gospel accounts, Caiaphas was the major antagonist of Jesus. An ossuary with the name "Joseph son of Caiaphas" was found in Jerusalem in 1990. The authenticity of that discovery has been challenged by some scholars on various grounds.
Wow! Never heard of this before. Thanks for sharing.
>> “There was a deep PIT (maybe 15-20 feet deep) in his “home” cave...and that is where Jesus was placed the night before he died. Jesus spent his last hours, not fed and stuck at the bottom of a pit.” <<
.
Where do you find any of this in the Word? (and if not in the Word, how could it be believable?)