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The silver scrolls, dating as they do from the time of King Herod wanted to build a monument to show his
the Kings of the House of David, are the most ancient gratitude to his Roman patron, Caesar Augustus. To
amulets yet found. The expression "prayer object of that end, in the year 10 BC, he launched one of the
silver" is mentioned in an Egyptian papyrus from about largest building campaigns ever conducted, turning
300 B.C. (Cowley, papyrus 81), which may refer to an Caesarea -- named after the Roman emperor -- into
object similar to these silver scrolls. one of the most striking cities in the world of its time.

The custom of wearing inscribed amulets containing Outside the city walls, Herod also built a hippodrome.
biblical blessings was widespread in ancient Israel and Such was the city's splendor that in the year 6 AD, it
continued during the time of Christ and throughout the became the seat of the Roman governors of Judea.
Roman and Byzantine periods. The tradition was based
on the biblical injunction: "And it shall be a sign to you The New Testament records at least three visits by the
and your hand and as a memorial between your eyes." Apostle Paul to Caesarea. During his last visit, he
(Exodus 13:9). The amulets were worn around the stayed in, "the house of Philip the evangelist," one of
neck, tied to the fingers, arms or worn close to the the seven. (Acts 21: 8) This was the same Philip who
heart. In speaking of the law of God, the writer of preached the Gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch on the
Proverbs declared: "For they shall be graceful orna- road to Gaza, and afterward settled in Caesarea (Acts
ments on your head and chains about you neck" (1:9). 8:40), where he became a leader of the Church.
Isaiah's list of trinkets (Isaiah 3:20) owned by the
daughters of Jerusalem is also evidence that such amu- That Caesarean Church was made up of Jews and for-
lets were worn as ornaments. mer pagans, in a city where tensions between the two
groups later sparked the first Jewish Revolt against
Rome in 66 A.D.
These small, silver scrolls, so fragile and precious,
small enough to hold in the palm of a hand, carry a
powerful message from ancient times to the world to- In was to Caesarea that Paul was finally taken as a pris-
day. They signify the value of God's Word to His peo- oner, to be tried by Felix, the governor, and to hold his
ple, then -- and now. The High Priestly Blessing, given celebrated conversations with King Agrippa II.
so long ago to God's chosen, still blesses us and is a
part of our worship today. "So the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had
come...[they] entered the auditorium with the com-
CAESAREA: RECONSTRUCTING manders...at Festus' command Paul was brought
HEROD'S DREAM CITY in...Then Agrippa said to Paul, 'You are permitted to
speak for yourself.' So Paul stretched out his hand and
answered for himself: 'I think myself happy, King Ag-
Raymond E. Marley rippa, because today I shall answer for myself before
Review Staff Reporter you concerning all the things of which I am accused..."
(Acts 25:23 - 26:2, NKJ)
CAESAREA, Israel -- "He rebuilt it all with white
stone, and adorned it with several most splendid pal- Paul's enthusiastic witness about Jesus of Nazareth was
aces... king [Herod even] overcame nature, and built a uttered in the very auditorium built by King Herod,
haven larger than was the Piraeus [near Athens]... He only a generation before, on the shore of the Mediter-
also built other edifices, the theater, and marketplace, ranean Sea.
all constructed in a style worthy of the name the city
bore..." Two thousand years later, archaeologists have un-
earthed this ancient theater which has now been reno-
So were the words of the historian, Josephus Flavius, vated and preserved.
after he visited the first century city of Caesarea.
"Today, one can physically stand in the very auditorium,
Originally a small port built by the Sidonians in the largely unchanged since the first century, where Paul
fourth century BC, Caesarea was later the scene of faced King Agrippa, and sit on the same ancient stones
some of the most significant events recorded in the used by the people of the time," said the well-known
Book of Acts.
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