An ancient Christian mosaic is causing controversy. Israeli officials may uproot a centuries-old decorated floor and loan it to a U.S. museum. The loan isn’t necessarily the problem: It’s which museum is being considered.
The Megiddo Mosaic bears an early written reference to Jesus as God. One part mentions an offering “To God Jesus Christ” in Greek. The tile floor is located in what historians believe may be the world’s earliest Christian prayer hall. The building once stood in a Roman-era village in northern Israel. Archaeologists discovered the floor art in 2005 during an excavation for a nearby prison.
The prison sits at a historic crossroads a mile south of Tell Megiddo. (In archaeology, a tell is a raised mound that shows the location of an ancient city.) The tell sits on the edge of the Jezreel Valley. Some Christians believe a battle between good and evil will transpire there at the end of days: Armageddon. (Revelation 16)
Officials from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) want to protect the mosaic during expansion of the nearby prison. They’re considering loaning it to the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. That option has some folks upset.
Critics of the loan say it emphasizes growing ties between Israel and evangelical Christians in the United States. (That concerns those who criticize Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Read No Peace in the West Bank.)
Further, others question the standing of the Museum of the Bible. Some scholars have been suspicious about how the museum obtained some of its relics. Specifically, some wondered about Dead Sea Scroll fragments in the museum’s collection. It turns out forgers had fooled the museum. The 16 fragments were fakes.
In 2020, the Museum of the Bible voluntarily returned looted artifacts to Iraq.
Jeffrey Kloha is the Museum of the Bible’s chief curator. Speaking about criticisms of the museum’s practices, he said, “Major museums and distinguished institutions committed to preserving history have had to grapple with cultural heritage issues, particularly in recent years.”
He’s right. Other museums have also returned illegally obtained items from their collections. These include the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Louvre.
The IAA says moving the mosaic is the best way to protect it from construction. Officials will decide about the move in the coming weeks.
“There’s an entire process that academics and archaeologists are involved with,” says IAA director Eli Eskozido.
Several experts voice strong objections to removing the Megiddo Mosaic from where it was found. They want to finish studying it first.
“It is seriously premature to move that mosaic,” says Matthew Adams, director of a non-profit research institute.
Rafi Greenberg is a professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University. He believes artifacts “should stay where they are and not be uprooted and taken abroad to a different country and basically appropriated by a foreign power.”
Kloha says the IAA alone will make the loan decision. But he confesses the Museum of the Bible “of course would welcome the opportunity to educate our thousands of visitors on important pieces of history such as this mosaic.”
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. — Hebrews 1:3
