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One of the designs etched on a bone box found within a 1st-century Jerusalem tomb suggests the biblical story of Jonah and the fish, which held significant symbolism for early Christians.
Using a remote-controlled camera on the end of a robotic arm, investigators have found what could be the earliest evidence of a Christian iconography in Jerusalem, engraved on a set of "bone boxes" inside a nearly intact 1st-century tomb.
One of the limestone boxes, known more formally as an ossuary, carries a Greek inscription calling on God to "rise up" or "raise up" someone. Another box appears to show the carved image of a fish, perhaps with the prophet Jonah in its mouth. Allusions to fish and the "sign of Jonah" came to be widely used among early Christians, but not among Jerusalem's Jews.
Update: Doubts raised about the 'Jesus Discovery'
Those discoveries alone would be enough to get biblical scholars excited. But the investigators in this case are the same people who claimed five years ago that ossuaries from a nearby tomb were engraved with the names of the biblical Jesus and his family. They're putting forth this new find as supporting evidence for their earlier claims, and resurrecting the topic in a newly published book ("The Jesus Discovery") as well as a Discovery Channel documentary that's due to air this spring.
"This does reopen the whole question about the 'Jesus Tomb,'" James Tabor, a scriptural scholar at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, told me.
That almost guarantees that the link to Jesus will take center stage once again in the discussion of the discovery, with most archaeologists discounting the connection. There's even a chance that the renewed controversy would push this most recent find out of the spotlight. That would be a terrible shame, said John Dominic Crossan, an expert on 1st-century Christianity and former Catholic priest who is a professor emeritus at DePaul University.
"It's a stunning discovery," he said. "It's a stunning piece of technology. As a scholar, I really don't want to get lost in saying, 'Oh, come on, it's off the wall.' Yeah, it's off the wall. But look at the wall!"
James Tabor / UNCC
Engineer Walter Klassen and filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici hold the camera-equipped robotic arm in its folded-up configuration.
Or in this case, look at the box.
How the boxes were found
Tabor and documentary filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici located both of the 1st-century tombs — the so-called Jesus Family Tomb as well as the one with the newly revealed inscriptions — in a Jerusalem neighborhood known as Talpiot years ago. They looked into previous claims that the bone boxes in the Jesus Family Tomb were marked with names that meshed with the names of Jesus' brothers and sisters, as mentioned in the Gospels. The investigators went on to cite a statistical analysis of name frequency as evidence that the family interred in the caskets was that of Jesus.
Most provocatively, they pointed to one box that was said to contain the remains of Jesus, and another containing the remains of "Judah, son of Jesus." These claims ran counter to the mainstream Christian view that Jesus made a bodily resurrection after his crucifixion and death, and that he did not marry or have children. To explain the seeming discrepancy with the Gospels, Tabor and his colleagues suggested that early Christians did not necessarily believe in a bodily resurrection, but rather a spiritual resurrection in which Jesus left behind the "old clothes" of the flesh.
The first book ("The Jesus Family Tomb") and TV documentary ("The Lost Tomb of Jesus") set off a wave of protests, with skeptics saying that Tabor and Jacobovici were sensationalizing an unprovable assertion. Despite the criticism, the team continued their work, focusing on the other tomb. This tomb was only briefly examined in 1981 before protests by Orthodox Jews, concerned about the disturbance of a gravesite, forced an end to the archaeological study. The tomb was sealed back up, and a condominium was built over it. Tabor and his colleagues refer to this tomb as the "Patio Tomb," because a patio sits almost directly above the tomb.
Israel's civil and religious authorities were resistant to efforts to reopen the Patio Tomb, so Tabor, Jacobovici and their colleagues came up with an unorthodox alternative: They suggested building a robotic arm that could be extended down vent holes and drill holes into the tomb, to a maximum length of more than 15 feet. The authorities gave their permission, and the documentary team proceeded with their remote-controlled video exploration in June 2010.
James Tabor / UNCC
Investigators shot imagery of the 1st-century Jerusalem tomb and the bone boxes inside the tomb using a robotic arm, as shown in this video frame.
The filmmakers peered into niches cut into the tomb and found several inscribed bone boxes, including one that was left ajar to reveal the bones still within. In one of the niches, two boxes were jammed close together. As the robotic arm maneuvered to look at the side of one of the boxes, one of the investigators cried out, "Wait, wait, stop there!" A design had been etched into the limestone — a design that could be interpreted as a fish with a stick figure hanging out of its mouth.
The meaning of the inscriptions
After consulting with other scriptural experts, the investigators concluded that the etching showed a representation of Jonah and the fish. The biblical tale of the prophet who was swallowed by a giant fish, only to be vomited up alive three days later, had a special resonance for early Christians, who believed in Jesus' resurrection after three days in a tomb. The image of the fish, which would not typically be carved on a Jewish ossuary, suggested to Tabor and his colleagues that this might be the earliest surviving example of a Christian marking on an artifact in Jerusalem.
The team's excitement grew when they saw the inscription on the box sitting next to the one with the fish: A four-line inscription in Greek appeared to refer to a belief in the resurrection. The inscription could be read as "Divine Jehovah, raise up, raise up," or "The Divine Jehovah raises up to the Holy Place," or "Divine Jehovah, raise up [abbreviated name]."
"This inscription has something to do with resurrection of the dead, either of the deceased in the ossuary, or perhaps, given the Jonah image nearby, an expression of faith in Jesus' resurrection," Tabor said in a news release.
The Jesus connection
Tabor and his colleagues tie this latest discovery to their earlier claims by suggesting that the two tombs were part of one complex, which might have been chiseled out by a wealthy supporter of Jesus and his disciples. They even name their prime suspect: Joseph of Arimathea, a high-ranking religious official who was said in the Gospels to have arranged Jesus' burial. In the investigators' view, the fact that they found such a strong connection to early Christianity in the Patio Tomb strengthens their original claims for the Jesus Family Tomb, which is 200 feet away.
"We now have the new archaeological evidence, literally written in stone, that can guide us in properly understanding what Jesus' earliest followers meant by their faith in Jesus' resurrection from the dead — with his earthly remains, and those of his family, peacefully interred just yards away," Tabor and Jacobovici wrote.
Crossan said that was too much of a leap. "There's nothing that associates [the Patio Tomb] with Joseph of Arimathea," he said.
He said the two tombs may well have no relationship to each other: "This whole area is riddled with tombs, as far as we can tell."
Ben Witherington, a New Testament scholar at Asbury Theological Seminary, voiced a similar view. "The attempt to connect [the Patio Tomb] to the other tombs is sheer conjecture, unless the tombs were connected," he told me.
Witherington said the connections made in the newly published book were similar to those put forth in Tabor's earlier work. "Most of us who have evaluated his work would say, OK, all very interesting, but it's building one speculation on another speculation," he said.
However, Witherington was intrigued by the fish carving. "We have early Christian ossuaries with the fish symbol ... in the 2nd century, if not back into the 1st century," he said. "That is the early Christian symbol for I-Ch-Th-Y-S ... 'Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.' What we don't have any evidence for is that symbol on Jewish ossuaries."
The words of the inscription also caught Witherington's interest. "They imply a belief about the resurrection," he said.
It is thought that the use of such bone boxes in Jerusalem ceased in the year 70, due to the Roman destruction of the city. Thus, there's a chance that the residents buried in the Patio Tomb actually lived during the time of Jesus and his first disciples. However, Crossan noted that Christians weren't the only ones in 1st-century Jerusalem who held a religious belief in resurrection. The Pharisees and the Essenes also looked forward to the resurrection of the righteous, he said.
"What I would say is ... this is a rich Pharisee, a rich person in the 1st century who believes in the resurrection," Crossan told me. "We always thought that [the image of] Jonah coming out of the fish was peculiarly Christian. Maybe that's one more thing that the early Christians took from Jewish tradition, and this would be the first evidence."
More about biblical archaeology:
- Messianic message stirs debate
- Return to King Solomon's mines
- Help scientists decipher 'lost' gospel
- Gallery: The archaeology of Christianity
- Experts stumped by markings in Jerusalem
- Claims about Jesus' 'lost tomb' stir up tempest
An academic paper on the Patio Tomb project is being posted to The Bible and Interpretation on Tuesday, and Tabor says the paper will be submitted for print publication as well. A press event about the project and the Discovery Channel documentary has been scheduled for 11 a.m. ET Tuesday at Discovery Times Square in New York City. Funding for the project was provided by Discovery Channel / Vision Television / Associated Producers. Tabor's colleague in obtaining the excavation license from the Israel Antiquities Authority was Rami Arav, professor of archaeology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
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"....set off a wave of protests, with skeptics saying that Tabor and Jacobovici were sensationalizing an unprovable assertion."
Kind of like the whole BuyBull nonsense ya mean?
This Article stated: "with most archaeologists discounting the connection."
Looks like the discovery channel and some book writers need a good story to keep the profits coming in.
How can we be sure that the images that showed up on the monitor of the camera were even from the camera. Could it be possible that those images came from another source and were just represented to be from that camera? Or maybe even a pre-recorded program that was transcribed for later broadcast. (A hoax) Sometimes a persons faith supercedes reality.
...... we exist right here,... right now...... deep huh ?
love exist right? but it is unseen. sure you see the actions but love it'self is an unseen but known thing. same with God. God is Love. How can us humans get to know this God? surely if God is love, then he is personal and wants us to get to know him. we know god by his creation (us, nature etc) and we know him by wat he has revealed (his son jesus). if you need further proof you won't get it. he has revealed his will through the bible. all the questions have been answered.
And conscience, too.
If the Bible shows his true will, he is a petty, destructive, and mean god. But he loves us.
people want a soft, "everything is ok" God. but the truth is God is Just. so yes, he punished/punishes sin (punished sin once and for all by the death of christ, now as a people our sins are forgiven! and we can spend an eternity with God in heaven! and have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe! intimately!, all knowing all providing god!"because he is Holy and perfect. if you don't want a Just god then you must want the genie God! or the layed back "hey! everything is fine! do what ya want!"
"We thought..."
"We believe..."
"This is believed to imply..."
"It is said that..."
Doesn't sound very scientific to me. Circumstantial evidence at the outer edge of credibility, let alone proof positive.
History and faith don't necessarily run parallel; generally they diverge, but they don't often intersect. An example of a point where faith and history intersect: The Dead Sea Scrolls. I'm having trouble recalling a similar discovery.
I think these guys are reaching way too far to be within reason. There were a lot of people who made ridiculous and outrageous cosmic claims about the mere date of the 9/11 attacks, the number of hijackers, number tricks with the flight numbers; you know, morons.
I don't think these people are morons, but I also don't think they have a grain of proof.
If They show up again before I die, please send me an email and admit that you were impressed.....right after you get your shorts cleaned out......
In my opinion, and that of many others, to believe in fairy tales is a foolish idea.
The bible is just that, a lovely myth with the exception of all the blood.
Sorry, but it's true.
What is foolish is to not acknowledge the power of myth, whatever its source.
If you're gullible enough to believe in religion, you're gullible enough to believe there is power in myth.
I think Justin Bryant is Rick Santorum's online MSNBC name.
Whatever the real story behind all this, Crossan's claim that the tomb is that of a Pharisee and what's been uncovered here is the fact that Jonah was all along a Jewish symbol (a fact which somehow never surfaced over two millennium until the exploration of this particular tomb) is absurd. He doesn't have any evidence whatsoever to support this laughable thesis except for his own determination not to acknowledge the simplest explanation out of some sort of prejudice.
What he's claiming would be akin to 2,000 years from now someone examining a tombstone with "What a long strange trip it's been" engraved on it and insisting that it must be a Catholic buried there, and what was heretofore thought to be a hippie motto of the band The Grateful Dead was probably stolen from the Catholics, as proven by the fact that it was imprinted on this 'Catholic' grave. It's Monty Python logic -- this grave belongs to who I claim it does, and now we will rewrite the history of iconography in order to support my circular argument.
Jonah was all along a Jewish symbol? What means?
Christ made reference to Jonah. He said that "... as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so the son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (paraphrase)
Yes, Jonah was a Hebrew. Rebellious, wayward but nonetheless a prophet of God. And Nineveh repented for about 100 years as a result of his preaching.
I know that it's hard to do but the issue as I see it is being able to determine the difference between GOD and Religion. That's right I said it!! Clearly there is a force or forces greater than anyone or anything on this planet throughout the universe. For the sake of argument I'll refer to that force or forces as GOD. Then there is religion something made by man for man. There is NO evidence that either of the two are connected or related to one another. Only a pretense that there is a connection. To illustrate what I mean for the slower reader, try this: Usually there is the symbolic figure of the Christ on a cross displayed in churches and in some fashion worn as an ornament by people. If the GOD personified on earth in the form of man was crucified (as was the punishment of the day called for) AND there is the belief that this same diety is destined to return, would he/it be pleased with the display or the ornate displays of the very same punishment that he/it received from those whom he/it stood against when he/it first was here??
Observations: I can not help but feel the influence and pull of God in my heart and life. I have spent time being Christian, then worldly, now devotedly Christian again, by choice. All things in the bible seem to be filled with the purest truth and it contains endless wisdom that we just can not seem to duplicate even amongst our thousands of years of educational enlightenment. When I look in the eyes of a Christian, or of an innocent person or child, I can not help by feel the heart of God, this is definite. When I see science and the universe, the scale of the complexity and the size of it all, I am sold on God beyond any doubt. All science is his. The more we assume in science, the funnier we get, and all "laws" we make are broken in short time. E=mc2 broken this year. Newtons law broken. Thermody broken. Size of universe broken 4 times, 5th next year when new hubble goes up. Seemingly infinite micro scaled design to the massive scaled design we can't explain either way. No 'scientific' explanation for life. No scientific explanation nor proof of universal, nor human origin. Science this year has proven in 6th way an impossibility of a center of the universe, or total disproof of the big space fart theory. The universe is expanding from all points of reference possible, in every direction, infinitely, creating new space time, location, and energy infinitely, breaking all possible human laws and throwing everything out of the window. Many scientist aethiests being converted as this is just impossible beyond anything we understand. As education catches up and information is disseminated, this one will be the head scratcher of all ages to come. talk about staring into the scientific face of God. This is like the unknown nature of life in the cell x ten trillion. Science is merely a study of God's physical universe so we can figure out how things work in his universe. It seems to me as I have observed more that most aethiests don't believe merely out of a root cause that they don't want anyone telling them how they should live. They resist anything that would tell them they shouldn't act on their carnal natures in any way, they want no rules to life and will resist anything that might obstruct their unlimited freedom to will or choose, including harm others in unlimited fashion. They must destroy religeon so that they can have unrestricted freedom to sin including other's mere word's against it. There is ignorance on both sides in terms of judgement, although the judgement of Christian's leads to pressure to live a better, more moral, and purer life, whereas the judgement of the sinner is merely a slander or insult and pressure to be more tolerant of unhealthy living and immoral behavior that harms others and ourselves. The purity and love I feel around Christian people and observe in their hearts and lives is like nothing I have ever seen amongst the aethiest crowd, and I have been around both equally in life. This is just the beginning of why I have after a long life of reluctance and determination of making my own rules, CHOSEN as an adult, to be a Christian, and to be baptised and give my life to Jesus and his people, and his way of life. In my experience with people..I can see no more worthy and valuable people out there, trying to live good lives, grow healthy families, and help heal this world, than Christians. If I were to choose which stranger to die for out of ten people, and I could not help but feel the desire to help the purest and best of them, I would undoubtedly need to say honestly to myself....the Christians are the best of us. Therefore, I will give my life to them, I will protect them, help them, contribute to them, and serve these people for the rest of my days, with all the passion I have. I admire these people, and am in awe of their strength, love, kindness, compassion, stand for what really matters, and the positive mark they have made in every part of this earth. I must decidedly say that I am now Jesus' property, one of his, and he is mine. In life, as a man, you need to pick sides, you need to choose, and I choose the side of good. I saw in the beginning even before I fully believed, that the side fighting for the most moral in us towards each other, and in our lives, is the better side, even if I could not grasp the rest. I knew this truth, and knew I was in rebellion to what was right, just like you know as a child that your breaking mom's rules that you shouldn't. It took years for me to learn all the rest, and clearly this is a problem for the closed minded or decidedly aethiest. I notice few of them speak from any knowledge point on Christianity whatsoever, but merely out of hatred. I notice that although this is not certain, but no Christian has ever stolen from me, although countless godless people have, few have sinned against me and if they have they are genuinely apologetic. Christians are constantly trying to live better lives and be better to others and flock on Sundays to learn more about this and improve themselves and knowing this immense love that just isn't human nature but is God. I surrender each day of my life. If you're a Christian out there I salute you, and thank you for choosing love.
Your rant against people not of your faith is silly and irresponsible. The beauty of science is that it is self-correcting. Religion is not; it is dogmatic, oppressive, and destructive.
xkknet, Great post, my sibling in CHRIST JESUS. What many do not consider is that GOD, our creator, is who created all laws of science.
Jesus was not a god. Take out the article "a." "In the beginning was the word, and the word was God and the word was with God. ...And the word became flesh and dwelt among us."
We must go back to the original greek manuscripts, not a version, but what the Holy Spirit penned through men God chose to write.
If you think Christians knocking on your door to invite you to Christ is "My way or the highway", try living under Sharia law. Your door won't just be knocked on, it will be knocked down if they think you're an atheist (or even if you're just frying bacon for breakfast.)
In a court of law, both forensic evidence and eye-witness testimony are allowed. The Bible contains the sworn testimony of many eye-witnesses to the fact that God and his Son exist. You can choose to ignore that testimony and consider it unreliable if you want. But you have no eye-witness testimony (nor can you) to backup the claim that there is no God. There are no established facts to backup that claim, either.
It is possible to prove that God exists should he choose to reveal himself. But it will never be possible to prove that God does not exist. You cannot prove a negative. If you choose to believe that there is no God, it can only be because you take that assertion on faith. It is a negative faith but a faith none the less. You're free to have that kind of faith if you choose. But to claim that atheism can't be a religion because its unproven assertions about God are only negative, is like claiming that negative digits cannot be integers. Numbers, like God, go on forever in both directions, but they are still real. And they can make a big difference in the lives of those who seek to understand them.
Another silly rant. If you can prove that god exists, go for it. In the meantime, I will remain skeptical.
I find it hilarious at how all of the "historical events" that take place in the Bible have no hold in world history. There is no mention of any of these "prophets" in any book besides the bible, no trace of anything that the bible says happened. In my opinion, religion was created to curb the flood of a stupid barbaric race that did nothing but kill each other for something like a shiny bead. Weve evolved from that, and now the only reason we kill each other is becuase we all disagree about what religion is best. People need to grow out of the stone ages and do the right thing because its the right thing, not because some invisible man from the sky says its the right thing to do. F?(% Him, what gives him the great insight of knowing whats best for us? Because the book says "He is all knowing?" HAHA thats a load of crap! Thats like saying the sky is blue because the ocean is blue because the sky is blue. Dirka dir! Get your head out of your a$$!
This is why we eat fish during lent.
the only joke here is god and it's played on all those fools who think there is someone in the sky watching over them. Talk about weak.
all non belivers try to find a way to disprove Jesus Christ and him raising from the dead- muslim Isl;amist would love it and atheist would---so they hunt for a way to disprove he is the true son and only sone sent to earth as a living part of God the father to come of a vigin-walk without sin-he had no sexual contact as he said come walk as I walk if you can't do this then take yourself a wife-he gave his life with more pain than man could endure as his flesh was stripped off his body by the cat of nine tails then nailed to a cross then side stuck with a spear-but he ased God to forgive men ---- her is the sheep covered by blood for the sins of the world anyone that believes in hima and asked him for forgiveness and believs he is alive next to God will be saved from Hell- given life forever with him in heaven-only way in after his death- believe or be lost---you pick but stop trying to disprove it just shows your real stupid- as beleif isd in the hard and mind-
The Romans did that to a lot of people. Jesus wasn't special.
Some things are true no matter what we believe. Whether we have faith in God or not. And that truth, is if every person lived in accordance to the Bible, their would be everlasting peace. None of the problems that plaque this world would exist. It is also true that despite the lack of belief in god, 99.9% of Atheists celebrate Christmas in one form or another. Which without knowing it celebrates the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe, an Atheist should consider this point of view, if you are a Christian and your belief in God turns out to be wrong then you die and nothing happens, but what if your Atheist and your non belief in God is wrong and he does exist......................... you're F*cked!
if he does exist and im proven wrong, ill say hes the stupidest God in the whole group of gods that you idiots create. Ill tell it to him right to his face, he can kiss my A$$, for what has he ever given me that i havent attained myself. Thats the stupidest logic ever, thats how it all started you idiot! Whats the difference between a Cult and your religion.....Not a damn thing except that that idiot methhead jesus got killed before he fed you the spiked punch! hahaha Il take my punishment with pride if im wrong, so long as GOD admits hes an idiot.
Reality Bites: Wow! I'm just speechless. Of all the posts on here, yours gets the prize for being the most arrogant and rebellious. Just wow!
I'm thinking after a few minutes of your punishment you will be changing your mind.
I also think its funny because Christian faith is so pompous that they named their god, God. At least the arbs can say praise Allah, which translates to "the god" not god as a name. Idiots, pompous idiots. But i understand. Christians are too weak minded to actually do something on their own. They justify their actions by saying "this is my mission from God"(notice how they never say my god?) They automatically subject you to "God's" control, as if you have a choice, but if its wrong, your doomed.
The Bible does say God has a name. That's something for you to research if you think it is important for you to get to know the God of the Bible by name and consider if you should learn to worship Him in the way He expects to be worshipped. The Bible teaches that we all have free will and we can use the free will to learn about God or to consider some other course of life as the way to go. The God of the Bible only wants sincere, true, worshipers.