Started in 1999 by archaeologists Dr. Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira, this private initiative has sifted through tons of earth illegally dug out from under the Temple Mount by the Muslims and unceremoniously dumped in the valley below. They are searching for treasures of the holy site’s Jewish past.

According to Dvira, of the 200,000 volunteers who have participated thus far in the project, 60,000 thousand have been Christians – Catholics, Protestants and Evangelicals who came from all over the world, including China, Singapore and Africa.

But, due to a lack of funding, the project has now come to a halt. I asked Dvira if the project would accept financial assistance from Christians, to which he responded with a resounding “Yes.” He added that Muslims, too, would be welcomed to join the project. Given adequate funding, there are still four years’ worth of sifting to do, and then many more years of research into the findings.

Dvira estimates that no less than eight volumes will be published, presenting for the first time many unique artifacts found nowhere else. Already the Sifting Project possesses the largest collection of Byzantine coins anywhere in the world. It also has a one-of-a-kind collection of Second Temple floor tiles, First Temple bullas and many other treasures that, once properly researched, will profoundly enrich our knowledge of the Temple’s history.

Speaking with Dvira, one can feel his agony over the State of Israel’s seeming lack of interest in this project. In 1999, he was actually sued by the Israel Antiquities Authority for archeological theft. He said it was an attempt on the part of then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak to muffle the project and any archeological revelations that might upset the status quo.

This fear of what the Temple Mount holds and stands for began 50 years ago, Dvira explains. Immediately following the Six Day War, then-Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan handed the Temple Mount over to the Jordanian Islamic Trust (Waqf). Dayan, who was secular to the core, vilified the Mount to prevent it from becoming the heart of Israel.

But even today, after years of demonstrating that the Sifting Project isn’t stirring up any political trouble, the government still refuses to help. In fact, the Israel Antiquities Authority, despite granting Barkay and Dvira a permit to excavate the dumped soil, discourages them at every opportunity.

JERUSALEM QUOTES

Kay Arthur, Precept Ministries:

“When you study the prophecies of Jerusalem and look at her past, present, and future, you’re convinced the Tanakh is the very word of the One who alone is God.  The One Who cannot be thwarted; what He purposes will surely come to pass (Isaiah 14:26-27). We join you in giving Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62:6-7) and the Son of David sits upon His throne and the nations know that ‘I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever on Mount Zion.’ (Ezekiel 37:24-28).”