While on a class trip to the Shiloh Valley, an Israeli boy found a coin minted by King Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great. The 2000-year-old coin features three stalks of grain on one side, and the royal canopy along with Agrippa's name on the reverse side. In the book of Acts, it is Herod Agrippa who put James to death and imprisoned Peter.
ABR's Director of Excavations at Shiloh, Scott Stripling, released the following statement about the find:
Shiloh boasts a rich numismatic corpus, as evidenced by this find. The ABR excavation at Shiloh has yielded almost 200 coins, including this exact coin of Agrippa I. Dated to the sixth year of the reign of Agrippa I (AD 41/42), this coin provides a direct connection to the end of the Second Temple period. Agrippa I was close friends with Emperor Claudius, and this coin was minted in the first year of Claudius' reign. Agrippa's title on the obverse (front) of the coin is BASILEUS, the Greek word for "king." Three ears of barley adorn the coin's reverse. In AD 44 Agrippa I suffered a gruesome death as recorded in Acts 12:23 and Josephus (Antiquities 19.8.2).
Off-site Links:
- https://christiannews.net/2019/02/07/israeli-boy-on-school-trip-finds-ancient-coin-marked-with-inscription-king-agrippa-leader-who-killed-james-jailed-peter/
- https://www.timesofisrael.com/kid-on-school-trip-unearths-second-temple-era-coin-in-west-bank-stream/
- https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Rare-coin-from-Second-Temple-period-discovered-in-West-Bank-578791
