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FIRST RESPONSE: Jesus' Tomb and Bone Box (Ossuary)? |
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Written by Don Williams
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Page 1 of 2 First Response
March 2007
Jesus' Tomb and Bone Box (Ossuary)?
The Discovery Channel, just before Easter, aired a “Documentary” on finding Jesus' Family Tomb. It is cut into a hillside half way between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The broadcast announced that the tomb contained Jesus' ossuary and nine others. All are now held by the Israel Antiquities Authority. Today the grave is hidden beneath a housing development. It was originally uncovered in 1980 when the site was cleared. If the remains of Jesus have been found, how does this impact the Christian faith? To address this, we need to first separate fact from speculation and speculation from fiction. We do this in a question and answer format.
1. What can be known for sure about this tomb?
In a clearly defined time period, the Jews cut multi-roomed tombs into Palestinian hillsides to hold their dead. After the bodies decayed, the remaining bones were placed in ossuaries, or stone boxes, awaiting the resurrection at the last day. Such tombs were only built during the 100 year period which ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. This means that the tomb in question must be dated during this time which is also the time of Jesus' life and ministry.
2. What are its contents?
The tomb contained several rooms, three skulls in a triangle and ten ossuaries when it was opened. Three of the ossuaries have no inscriptions. One, with the inscription of “James, brother of Jesus,” disappeared and may have been purchased by a private collector. The other six are identified as holding the bones of “Jesus, son of Joseph,” “Jose” [Joseph], “Maria” [Mary], “Mariamni e Mara,” “Matia,” [Matthew] and “Judah, son of Jesus.”
3. What are the issues around these names?
Taken as they stand, this tomb would hold the family of a “Jesus.” He is not only probably identified on one of the ossuaries, he is also identified by the inscription of Judah his son and, if the James ossuary came from this tomb, by the inscription which calls James his brother. Furthermore, if this is a “Jesus” family tomb, then Jose (“Joseph”) and Maria (“Mary”) could be his parents. Matia (“Matthew”), Mariamni Mara and Judah must also be related to him.
4. What about the inscription “Jesus, son of Joseph”?
Scholars disagree about this translation. The inscription is faint. The first archaeologist to see it, Professor Amos Kloner, judged it to be unclear. The Discovery Channel panel (on its website) included Professor Charlesworth of Princeton who also judged it difficult to read. But other scholars, including Frank Cross of Harvard, hold it says “Jesus.” This problem is passed over lightly by the Jesus Tomb advocates. If the inscription is not “Jesus” the whole project fails. Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino write of it, “Hard to read but, in the end, easily decipherable.” (The Jesus Family Tomb (2007), p.61) Whether they are right about this is an open question, at least to some scholars.
One other point needs to be considered. If the inscription reads “Jesus, son of Joseph” a similar inscription with the same reading was discovered on an ossuary, announced by archaeologist Eleazar Levi Sukenik in Berlin in 1931. As we will see, both of these names are common to the Jews in First Century Palestine and the inscription in the “Jesus Tomb” is not unique.
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First Response 
