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A team of archeologists claims that they have found the real tomb of Jesus Christ. They’re convinced that several pieces of evidence point to the veracity of their claim, with the latest one being this 2,000-year-old engraving on the side of an ancient burial site.
Simcha Jacobovici—a Canadian film director with three Emmys for Outstanding Investigative Journalism—and his archaeology team believes that this is a fish with a human figure inside, which according to them refers to the story of Jonah. According to the Old Testament, Jonah was a prophet, swallowed by a whale sent by God to rescue him after he was thrown out of a ship. Jonah then spent three days and three nights inside the whale’s belly before being vomited out alive. Christians believe that this symbolises the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
The researchers also claim that the grave site has these other words engraved in the stone: “Jesus, son of Joseph.” The archeologists believe that the tombs are located in a land that was owned by Joseph of Arimathea at the time. There is also another engraved inscription that can have multiple meanings: “O Divine Jehovah, raise up, raise up” or “The Divine Jehovah raises up to the Holy Place” or “The Divine Jehovah raises up from.”
James Tabor—a Biblical historian and the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte—seems to believe them, saying that these inscriptions are extremely rare. Only 2,000 ossuaries have been found in Israel so far. Of those, only 650 have inscriptions and only 12 have epitaphs. None of those are comparable to the ones found by Jacobovici, according to Tabor.
However, there are many other who believe the claims are false. Mark Goodacre, a religious studies professor at Duke University, thinks that their heads are “full of DaVinci Code,” referring to the 2003 mystery novel written by Dan Brown about the descendants of Jesus.
University of Iowa assistant professor of classics and religious studies Robert Cargill thinks the story is bogus, saying that there are “clearly handles on the top of the so-called ‘Jonah fish’ image, but Tabor and Jacobovici don’t include them in their museum replicas or the CGI image: “No credible scholar except those that work with or for Simcha on this or some other project believe his conclusions… The evidence does not support their sensational claims. But that doesn’t stop them from wanting it to be true, so in their minds, it’s true.”
So, is this Jesus’ real tomb yes or not? Jacobovici’s findings will be shown today in a Discovery Channel special The Resurrection Tomb Mystery at 10 p.m. Eastern Time.
The program will show images of the tomb’s interior, taken with a special robotic arm (on the image above) that was introduced in the sealed burial chamber through holes drilled from the exterior.
I guess we’ll just have to watch it and judge for ourselves. [Discovery Channel via Smartplanet]
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Looks like a 2,000 year old version of Draw Something. Is it Goldfish?
If it is, it’s either wearing an African print dress or a Bill Cosby sweater.
Actually, re-evaluating the image, it looks like the landing craft / dropship from Aliens but I don’t think that’s in Draw Something.
OH dear, not another one. There are already several “tombs” on the Jerusalem tourist trail. I would not be surprised if the people behind this claim own the land this latest one is on, as it will be a nice little earner.
Or it might be part of the Prometheus marketing campaign.
If it says ‘Jesus, son of Joseph’ engraved on it then it is not his tomb as he wasn’t called Jesus, he was called Joshua. The name Jesus came about because of mistakes in translation in the Bible from Greek to Latin.
You mean he wasn’t named after Mr Diaz
Pretty sure the engraving wouldn’t have been in English. Almost certain its just how Simcha Jacobovici and his team are translating it for the sake of people not blessed with the ability to read ancient whatever-the-fuck-he-claims.
Yes, your right, Jesus’ name was Yeshua, which is a Hebrew name which was transliterated into Greek as Iesous (IhsouV: pronounced ee-ay-SUS or ee-ah-ZOOS). The English “Jesus” comes from the Latin transliteration of the Greek name into the Latin Iesus So this particular tomb is bogus.
Easy.
No.
No matter how interesting the programme, the fact that this article is simply an advert for that programme tells me they’ve not found it. If someone had found the grave of Jesus, such that there could be no doubt whatsoever, it wouldn’t be announced on the discovery channel. It’d be on the six o’clock news.
Jonah’s story a symbolisation of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection? That’s the first time I’ve heard that. Interesting. I’ll put that forward in Bible Study and see what others think of that. Hmm….interesting.
However, I kinda agree with British Academy that if it was the “real” tomb of Jesus then it would be in the news ASAP rather than in Discovery. Sure we being in a Christian country and all would know about it much sooner.
Who knows !
@William Palmer Yes, your right, Jesus’ name was Yeshua, which is a Hebrew name which was transliterated into Greek as Iesous (IhsouV: pronounced ee-ay-SUS or ee-ah-ZOOS). The English “Jesus” comes from the Latin transliteration of the Greek name into the Latin Iesus So this particular tomb is bogus.
Anything based on a lie is lie and the truth always prevails.The Holy blood Holy grail pretend that Jesus escaped death on the cross and married Mary Magdalene.Then Da Vinci code pretend a secret marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the real blood of the grail is inside Mary based on the painting of the last supper by Leonardo Da Vinci.After that some persons pretend finding Jesus tomb and bones and carried DNA tests! and statistics on names! Their discoveries correspond the above fake stories.There is a very dangerous lie about the real blood in the marriage of Jesus with Mary Magdalene.The truth is that real and Holy blood of Jesus is on His forehead and not in the womb of Mary Magdalene.This is revealed in the true story The Coin Of The Temple by Souheil Bayoud.The impossibility of marriage of Jesus with Mary Magdalene is like the blind who do not see a bodily resurrection.