It’s like a story out of the Book of Prophets. A plague sweeps the globe. After enough human suffering, the people repent. The plague, determined as God's wrath, subsides, and life goes on.

A similar if not totally parallel situation transpired in Israel Monday morning when an anonymous man returned a 2,000 year old stone catapult bolt that he stole from an Israel national park 15 years ago.

“The time has come to clear my conscience,” the anonymous man said, adding, “it feels that the end of the world is near” in light of the rapidly spreading COVID-19.

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The anonymous man enlisted the help of a man named Moshe Manies in returning the artifact to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Fifteen years ago, the defiant youth was at the City of David on a tour of the Jerusalem Walls National Park with a friend. Together, they “came across a display of ballista stones which were catapulted at fortifications,” Manies wrote in a Facebook post. “Meanwhile, [the anonymous man] married and raised a family, and told me that for the past 15 years the stone is weighing heavily on his heart. And now, when he came across it while cleaning for Passover, together with the apocalyptic feeling the global coronavirus pandemic generated, he felt the time was ripe to clear his conscience,” the post said.

The artifact in question is a 2,000 year old ballista stone. According to Dr. Yuval Baruch, Jerusalem Region Archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority, “ballistae were ancient weapons, which were used to hurl stones like the one returned at the top of the fortress walls in order to distance the protectors of the city, who stood at the top. “

The specific ballista stones which were uncovered at the City of David “are most likely connected to the harsh battles between the besieged residents of Jerusalem and the soldiers of the Roman Legion, from around 70 CE— the year of the destruction of Jerusalem,” Baruch explained.

Similar stones have been uncovered in other parts of Jerusalem.

Manies’ Facebook post attracted the attention of someone from the Israel Antiquities Authority. Someone following Manies’ post tagged Uzi Rothstein, an Inspector at the IAA’s Antiquities Robbery Prevention Unit. He immediately coordinated with Manies to come pick up the bolt.

“Disconnecting an artifact from its archaeological framework by its removal negatively impacts the research and the ability to piece together its historical puzzle,” Rothstein said.

Rothstein celebrated the artifact’s return and urged the return of any other artifact taken from its rightful place. “We commend the return of the artifact and appeal to anyone who has taken an archaeological artifact, to take a weight off their heart and return it to the State Treasury. These artifacts, which are thousands of years old, are our national treasure. They tell the story of The Land and of who resided here before us, and should be documented and displayed.”