Lost Tomb Controversy
By Neil Earle
In
1980 outside Jerusalem in the area of Talipot a tomb was uncovered with nine
ossuaries (bone boxes) inside. The inscriptions were genuine and led to a
Discovery Channel special on February 25, 2007.
The
claim was made that inscriptions such as “Jesus son of Joseph” and
“Mary” found on the boxes mark this as the family tomb of Jesus. In the
light of the fact that a “James ossuary” was found recently with the
marking “James son of Joseph,” which has support from some Christian
scholars, filmmakers have now claimed that the Talipot discovery was the
authentic burial spot of Jesus. However, there are ten points that argue
against this conclusion.
- Prof.
Amos Klosner, the archaeologist who made the original 1980 discovery,
totally denies the claim that this was the family tomb of Jesus of
Nazareth.
- Estimates
are that in First Century Judaea, 21% of Jewish women and 22% of Jewish
men had the names “Mary” and “Jesus.” This paradoxically argues
for Gospel authenticity since the number of “Marys” in the Gospels can
be confusing.
- Filmmakers
used the DNA evidence selectively. They simply tried to show that the
“Miriam” box contained bones not related to the “Jesus” box and
that therefore those two could have been husband and wife. DNA evidence
can be altered by outside handling – sometimes 1/6 of the samples get
contaminated.
- Sean
Pfann of the University of the Holy Land reported to Anderson Cooper on
March 13, 2007 that many other bones were found in the boxes for which we
have no name. This throws doubts over the whole claim.
- The
attempt to link the “Mariamne” box with Mary Magdalene led the
filmmakers down the same path as Da Vinci Code researchers – trawling once
again through the Gnostic or Doubted Writings of the later centuries.
- Church
historians such as Eusebius connect Mary, Jesus’ mother, to Ephesus in
Asia Minor which sets up other problems.
- Jerusalem
itself was the hotbed of anti-Christian activity. Why gather the Jesus
Family there?
- Tomb
space in Jerusalem was very expensive, as adduced from the Gospel record
of Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, giving the crucified Jesus his tomb
(Luke 23:50-54).
- “Jesus,
son of Joseph” is an expression never used in the Gospels.
- Jesus’
tomb has always been in dispute because Christians believe he was not
there – he was resurrected. The tombs of Lenin, Mao, Gen. Grant, Mohammed,
etc. are precisely located because that’s where they are buried.
(For
further information check out
Ben Witherington’s blogspot.)
Neil Earle
626-256-4919
neil.earle@gci.org