Jesus Boat

In the 1980's there was a for real drought in Israel and as a result the levels of the Sea of Galilee were drastically lowered. This gave archeologists and treasure hunters an excellent opportunity to find ancient things buried in the mud at the bottom of the lake, the coolest of which is called "The Jesus Boat"


Over the course of 11 days then dug out and pulled up a fully intact fishing boat from the 1st century. It was this huge task that included dozens of people and extreme care because of its age and how long it was under water and mud. The wood from the boats sides was so waterlogged that if you left it out of water for very long it would crumble... like wet cardboard. And the joints were falling apart. To transport it they came up with this crazy foamy substance that they covered the entire boat in then floated it up and out to safety. It's a crazy story. the result is really cool - a fully intact 1st century boat.


the boat being floated to shore in its foam enclosure

So many of the gospel stories, and so many of my favorite gospel stories, revolve around the fishing industry in the sea of galilee... Jesus taught from boats, he called disciples out of boats, he slept in boats and walked on the water past boats. To see a real life one is such a treat for my imagination - it barely has to work at all to get a picture of Jesus in the boat with Peter and all their pals.

There is of course no way to know if this was actually Jesus' boat. It may have been used in the great sea battle with the Romans in the 60s or it might have just been a boat. But it's a cool boat. I loved it.