Did you know?

In the first century, how did the temple priests dispose of blood from sacrificial animals?

The picture shows priests offering animal sacrifices on the altar of the temple.

Every year, the priests in ancient Israel offered thousands of animal sacrifices on the altar of the temple.

According to first-century Jewish historian Josephus, on Passover,

more than 250,000 lambs were sacrificed, resulting in a large amount of blood being poured out.

What happened to all that blood?

Archaeologists have uncovered an extensive drainage system in Herod's temple that was used

until the temple's destruction in 70C.E. The drainage system was evidently used to dispose of blood

from the temple mount. Consider two features of that drainage system.

Holes at the base of the altar.

A description of a drainage system for the altar is found in the Mishnah,

a collection of Jewish oral laws compiled toward the early part of the 3rd century CE.

It says, at the southwestern corner there were two holes, by which the blood that was poured over the western base and the southern base used to run down and mingle in the water channel

and flow out into the brook Kidron. This ancient tradition of holes near the altar

harmonizes with the findings of modern archaeologists.

The Cambridge history of Judaism confirms the discovery of an extensive drainage system near the temple.

It states, this was probably used to drain the water mixed with blood of the sacrifices which came out of the temple mount.

An adequate water supply. The priests needed ample amounts of water to keep the altar's base

and the drainage channel clean. To carry out this important task, the priests had access

to a constant supply of fresh water from the city.

That system was made up of canals, aqueducts, cisterns, and pools.

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