A tomb in Israel contains a stunning story that has endured for thousands of years. This is the fascinating, perhaps unbelievable, history of the final resting place of Jesus' midwife.
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00:00A Tomb in Israel contains a stunning story that has endured for thousands of years.
00:04This is the fascinating, perhaps unbelievable, history of the final resting place of Jesus'
00:09midwife.
00:11The narrative of the nativity of Jesus only appears in the Gospel of Luke, which simply
00:15says that Jesus was born, wrapped in cloth, and laid in a manger.
00:18The only people mentioned who are present besides Mary and Joseph are the shepherds
00:22and angels.
00:23That certainly does not include any midwife to aid in the delivery.
00:26Before the Protestant Reformation asserted that the only writings bearing divine authority
00:29are the books of Scripture, many Christians' understanding of major biblical figures came
00:34from traditions beyond the Bible.
00:35One of the most influential of the sources is a book called The Infancy Gospel of James.
00:41It offers an expanded account of the birth and childhood of Mary, as well as the nativity,
00:45including a scene where Joseph goes looking for a midwife, and time stands still.
00:49He returns to the cave where he left Mary, only to see the area become filled with a
00:53blinding light and the baby Jesus teleport from Mary's womb and into her arms.
00:57No midwife needed.
00:58You might think that the midwife that Joseph found is the one whose tomb was found, but
01:02there's a bit more to this story.
01:05Who is Salome?
01:08The Infancy Gospel of James also notes that the unnamed midwife that Joseph fetched is
01:12amazed at the miracle.
01:14She then goes to tell another midwife named Salome all about this incredible teleporting
01:18baby, but Salome refuses to believe that her friend has seen a virgin birth until she can
01:22examine Mary's undercarriage for herself.
01:25When she reaches under Mary's dress, her hand burns and withers as punishment for her lack
01:29of faith.
01:30Salome then prays to God for forgiveness.
01:32God then sends an angel who tells her to touch the baby Jesus in his manger crib, and she
01:36will be healed.
01:37The gospel continues, but this is essentially the end of Salome's story.
01:41These two midwives are commonly depicted in art bathing or otherwise tending to the infant
01:45Jesus.
01:46Although some other texts and traditions apply various names to the first midwife, Salome
01:50is the one who has a consistent name throughout the tradition.
01:54Weirdly enough, though, there's actually not that much difference between being named Salome
01:58and having no name at all.
02:00As it turns out, Salome was an incredibly popular moniker among Jewish women in the
02:04first century CE.
02:05It's derived from the well-known Hebrew word shalom, meaning peace.
02:09There were a number of notable Jewish women from this time period with the name Salome,
02:13and even the midwife isn't the only one tied to the life of Jesus.
02:17Perhaps the most famous Salome is the daughter of Herodias, who demanded John the Baptist's
02:21head on a platter, although she never actually is named in the Bible.
02:24But the gospels do talk about a Salome who was at the crucifixion and one who was at
02:28the empty tomb, as well as one who was the mother of the apostles James and John, who
02:32might have been Mary's sister.
02:34It's unclear how many of these Salomes are distinct people, as various traditions combine
02:38them in different ways.
02:39Some churches even teach that Salome the midwife is the same as the one from the empty tomb,
02:44thereby making her one of the first to witness both Jesus' birth and resurrection.
02:49The actual physical tomb that's traditionally been identified as that of Salome can be found
02:53in a cave near Tel Ahish National Park, about 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem.
02:57It's near the ancient city of Lachish, which appears several times throughout the Hebrew
03:01Bible.
03:02The tomb of Salome is part of a larger burial complex.
03:05Within the cave, there are various burial niches carved out of the rock walls, as well
03:08as numerous ossuaries, which are essentially receptacles or vaults full of loose bones,
03:13in various states of disrepair.
03:15It's likely that it was in one of these ossuaries that medieval Christians found the name Salome
03:19written and thus identified the cave as the burial place of Jesus' midwife.
03:24The site then became a place of pilgrimage for Christians starting around the 5th century
03:27CE.
03:28Even today, Christian pilgrims still visit this cave.
03:32Before becoming a destination for traveling Christians, the tomb of Salome was almost
03:36certainly originally just a burial complex for a wealthy Jewish family from the late
03:40Second Temple period.
03:41That means that it was probably roughly contemporary with the life of Jesus.
03:45Evidence for this includes the style of the burial itself, which reflects the Jewish customs
03:49of the time.
03:50Furthermore, in addition to the numerous niches and ossuaries, there's a forecourt spanning
03:54nearly 4,000 square feet covered with mosaic flooring.
03:57Additionally, the entrance to the cave was lavishly decorated with various carvings that
04:02would have been symbolically significant to Jewish mourners — pomegranates, rosettes,
04:06and vases decorated with acanthus leaves.
04:09All of these are fairly typical of Jewish design at the time.
04:12One important signifier of the wealth of the family is the fact that similar tombs of the
04:16time would have had their forecourts simply carved out of the rock, and not filled with
04:19elaborate masonry and tiling as the Salome cave does.
04:24While the figure of Salome the midwife is not very familiar to modern Christians, she
04:27was well-known to early followers who weren't as concerned with modern ideas like whether
04:32or not the infancy gospel of James was biblical canon.
04:35Typical depictions of Salome and the other midwife in Orthodox versions of the Nativity
04:40indicate that the women were well-regarded in the Eastern Church.
04:42One clear sign of Salome's popularity is the use of her alleged tomb as a pilgrimage site
04:46for Christians in the early Middle Ages.
04:49Archaeological evidence suggests that the pilgrimage site was a fairly popular one into
04:52the early Muslim period, continuing as a shrine until at least the 9th century.
04:57Recent excavations have uncovered clay oil lamps that date to the 8th and 9th centuries.
05:01They would have been used by pilgrims either to light their way in the dark burial niches
05:05or as part of their veneration of the shrine, similar to the lighting of candles at someone's
05:10grave.
05:11Archaeologists have even uncovered a row of shop stalls surrounding the complex's forecourt
05:14where merchants would have rented or sold these lamps to pilgrims for this purpose.
05:20The idea that the veneration of Salome at her tomb continued into the Muslim era is
05:23supported by the fact that the cave's interior walls were covered in inscriptions and engravings
05:27by visitors across the centuries.
05:29Some of these dozens of carvings are written in Greek and clearly from Christian pilgrims,
05:33while others are written in Syriac and Arabic.
05:36But after the 9th century, there is very little known about what happened to the cave.
05:39Presumably, it fell into disuse as a shrine, as the Crusades would have made pilgrimages
05:43more difficult.
05:44The tomb was essentially forgotten until 1982, when looters searching for antiquities broke
05:48into the tomb-turned-shrine.
05:50These grave robbers drew the attention of legitimate archaeologists, including Professor
05:54Amos Kloner of Israel's Antiquities Department, who began a series of excavations that have
05:59continued to this day.
06:00We knew about the cave at least for 40 years.
06:03Everything was buried down."
06:04Kloner's excavation revealed the burial niches and ossuaries.
06:08But the thing that surprised him was the presence of Christian crosses in a Jewish tomb, as
06:12well as the architectural conversion of the place into a chapel or shrine.
06:16Though the ossuary that probably inspired the veneration of the site was gone, the inscriptions
06:20on the walls indicated that this was likely the shrine of the midwife Salome.
06:24In more recent years, archaeologists have begun to uncover the spacious forecourt to
06:28the burial complex.
06:29These excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority are part of a plan to open up the
06:33site to the public, as part of a larger project emphasizing Jewish cultural heritage throughout
06:38the Judean lowlands.
06:40The entrance courtyard encompasses about 350 square meters, or roughly 3,767 square feet.
06:46This is the area that's tiled with mosaic flooring and surrounded by walls made from
06:50Ashlar stone masonry.
06:51This tiled masonry is made from finely hewn stone, formed into smooth and irregularly
06:56shaped rectangular bricks that fit together tightly.
06:59These unusually nice elements contribute to the idea that this cave was originally the
07:03resting place for a particularly wealthy family, as well as a popular chapel or shrine.
07:07This is the area that also includes much of the intricate carving and design work, and
07:11the numerous impromptu engravings made by pilgrims and other visitors that helped identify
07:15the site of Salome's.
07:18In addition to the courtyard's mosaic flooring and elaborate walls, the entrance to the cave
07:22also features tall arches and the market stalls where the dozens of clay lamps were found.
07:26These lamps are elaborately ornamented with common artistic motifs such as pomegranates
07:30and more geometric elements.
07:32Perhaps even more interesting is the abundant graffiti found throughout the cave.
07:36In addition to the numerous crosses that help identify the cave as a Christian site, numerous
07:40pilgrims carve their own names into the wall.
07:42But most critically, the name Salome and the word midwife appear over and over.
07:47Perhaps the most notable inscription reads,
07:49"'Zachariah ben Keralis, dedicated to the Holy Salome."
07:52The archaeologists of the Israel Antiquities Authority have suggested that Zachariah ben
07:56Keralis was a Jewish patron of the site and may have used his own personal wealth in the
08:00development of the shrine and courtyard.
08:03More surprising discoveries include modern-day candles, icons, and other elements of worship,
08:07which indicate that the shrine is still being visited by pilgrims, even if it's technically
08:11illegal until the site is opened to the public.
08:13The Israel Antiquities Authority hopes to complete the excavations in coming months
08:18and open it up to the public soon.
08:20As of 2023, the site of the Salome Cave is still being excavated and remains closed to
08:25public exploration.
08:26But a major reason for this new dig is to prepare the site to become a place where general
08:30audiences can come and enjoy it.
08:31The restoration is part of a larger project by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Ministry
08:36for Jerusalem and Heritage, and the Jewish National Fund called the Judean King's Trail
08:40Project.
08:41This 60-mile trail crosses through the Judean lowlands and covers numerous sites that were
08:45significant in the times of the Bible, the Second Temple Period, or the development of
08:49Talmud.
08:51The Israel Antiquities Authority is certain that there will be an interest in the Salome
08:54Cave as a sacred Christian site.
08:56Their current efforts include seeking out ways to protect the numerous inscriptions
08:59carved into the walls while making them accessible to tourists.
09:02They likewise hope that once the site is officially open, modern-day pilgrims will no longer feel
09:07it necessary to break in, and everyone who wants to will be able to visit safely.
09:11While the Salome Cave was an important shrine for pilgrims in the Byzantine era, you might
09:16well wonder how important it will be to people nowadays.
09:19After all, the question remains, how authentic is the claim that this is indeed the burial
09:23place of a woman who once bathed the infant Jesus?
09:25If you don't put any stock in early extra-canonical Gospels, then chances are probably also pretty
09:30low that you believe in the authenticity of this cave.
09:33Furthermore, the fact that the main connection to Salome the midwife in the first place is
09:37that there was probably at one point a box full of bones with her very common name on
09:41it might also add to the skepticism.
09:43And if you're skeptical, you're not alone.
09:45Most Protestants don't give much credence to traditions from outside the Protestant
09:49canon.
09:50And even many Catholics, who are generally more open to tradition as a source of teaching,
09:54are also hesitant to fully buy into the narrative from the infancy Gospel of James, or even
09:59the idea that Jesus had a midwife at all.
10:01No less an authority than St. Jerome himself once said,
10:03"...no midwife assisted at his birth, no woman's officiousness intervened."
10:07But clearly, whatever the truth may be, Israeli tourism officials are hoping that enough people
10:11believe in Salome and are interested enough in visiting her shrine.
10:15Perhaps late recognition for a forgotten female figure of the story of Jesus.