Among the finds of recent years were long tunnels on the western slopes leading from the center of the mound to the top and used by rebels in the second-century CE and opened to visitors in the 1980s. Other openings here led to water cisterns. The excavators knew a small, illegal dig had taken place here in the 1960s, perhaps seeking the treasures described in the Dead Sea Scroll known as the Copper Scroll, or perhaps seeking Herod’s scepter. Noticing the presence of a wall here, Netzer and his team began to consider that further along that same area, in a direct line with the huge round tower above, they might find the tomb. Here they found part of a wall that may have been connected to a monumental staircase to the tomb structure. Within a cistern, they discovered a huge wall obviously built to support a structure built on top.

Stones of Witness

“The stones speak for themselves,” Netzer says in describing another exciting find: one entire side of the podium (see photo) he believed was part of the tomb structure. Its building blocks are of typically fine Herodian design, with only two millimeter spaces between them and not a drop of cement necessary.  Pieces of stone funerary urns were also found. Among Gentiles these were used to hold ashes; here they probably had a decorative function, symbolizing death.  Additional persuasive pieces of evidence that this is a royal tomb are decorated pieces of an enormous stone sarcophagus that have begun to emerge. One has a rosette design (see photo) known from only one other place – the Tombs of the Kings in Jerusalem. Significantly, Netzer says the sarcophagus had been smashed to bits. This was not the work of grave robbers, he says, but was carried out in anger by someone with a grudge against the king. And that group, as we know, was a very large one.

Netzer, who stresses the dig will continue, seeking further evidence of Herod’s burial here,  says for him one its most exciting aspects is the opportunity to excavate with a copy of Josephus in one hand, and bring it to life the ancient chronicle.

The Personal Mystery Unfolds

"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD." --Proverbs 21:30

What marks a man’s life more than his grave? Or, in Herod’s case — and kings such as he — tombs? Israel is dotted with sites commemorating the graves, or tombs, of countless famous and infamous biblical characters. Daily, visitors and the faithful file by them, kneeling at many and praying to God for favor.

It is doubtful anyone will do the same for Herod’s Tomb, though no doubt they will come.

When David heard that King Saul and his son Jonathan had died, he lamented: Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen!  --2 Samuel 1:19

Though Herod was hardly the “glory of Israel” he made certain he was considered “mighty,” if nowhere else in his own mind. Yet, for all his narcissism Herod’s greatest fear seems to have been in the birth of a baby. Hearing that one had been born who would be “king of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2), Herod ordered the genocide of all baby boys born in Bethlehem and its vicinity, two years old and younger. “Rachel,” the Bible tells us, wept for her children and refused to be comforted. (Matthew 2:18)