The Jesus Tomb Hoax

Chase March 4th, 2007

Even in our day of technology, it is quite difficult to use DNA testing to prove much of anything. Witness the recent furor over Anna Nicole Smith’s baby, and all of those who are lining up as father candidates. The Jesus Family Tomb group is throwing around DNA in a spectacular way to make some far-fetched assumptions. If you read the fine print, however, they have really only proven one thing: That the “Jesus” in the Talpiot tomb and the Mariamenon are not blood relations. From this, they make multiple unfounded implications, mainly that “Jesus” and Mariamenon were married. Here is what the official website reads:

In the documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus, DNA tests are performed on human residue taken out of the “Jesus son of Joseph” ossuary and the “Mariamne” ossuary.
These DNA tests are conducted by Dr. Carney Matheson at the Paleo-DNA lab at Lakehead University in Ontario, one of the leading facilities of its kind in the world….The tests demonstrate that the “Jesus” and “Mary” from this tomb are not maternally related….They were unrelated. People buried in tombs are related in one of two ways: either by blood or by marriage. The results revealed an explosive possibility: that these two individuals, Jesus, son of Joseph, and Mariamne, were likely related by marriage. SOURCE

There are two big problems with they way they have come to this conclusion:

1. Just because two people are buried in the same tomb and not blood relatives does not mean that they were married. There are numerous examples in the ancient world of this happening.
2. The DNA testing done to “prove” that the former ossuary occupants weren’t related was actually done on residue left inside the box, not on the human remains that were once there. When the tomb was uncovered in 1980, the human remains in each box were taken out and reburied, in accordance with typical archaeological practices in Israel. In addition, there is some thought that the discovery of this tomb in 1980 wasn’t the first time it had been disturbed since its sealing. Some archaeologists think that there could have been thirty or more ossuaries in the tomb originally. (see below for references) There is no guarantee that the DNA tested actually came from the original occupants of the boxes at all.

As evidence of the misunderstanding that can be possible based on a cursory look at this evidence, witness this quote taken from the website of Nashville tv station WKRN, “For many mainstream or traditional Christians, the belief that Jesus was resurrected from the dead is essential to their very faith[,] so hearing that scientists have used DNA samples to prove that his remains were once in a buried stone casket, if true, would cause them to re-think most everything they have ever believed. In response, many Christians refuse to listen.” SOURCE Do you follow what they are saying? Their understanding is that DNA testing has proved the occupant in the box is THE Jesus of Nazareth. How absurd!!

Here are excerpts from articles that deal with this issue more in depth:

• From Dr. Darrell Bock: There is the DNA showing that Mariamne and Jesus DNA residue do not match. Now with how many women in Judea would Jesus’ DNA not match? Even women named Mary/Mariamne? This proves nothing. That a match would take place is a one in several thousand likelihood. This is like my asking, how many people in your town or city do you have a DNA match with? This evidence does not prove she is a wife. It simply says that A jesus and A mary are not biologically related. The questions one could raise include which male in the tomb is she attached to, if to any of them? In fact, the fact that only two boxes were tested means that we do not even know if this is a family tomb, since the two tested show no relationship. The DNA could prove the exact opposite of what is being claimed. SOURCE
• From my former professor, Dr. Gary Habermas: It has been acknowledged that the recent DNA evidence did NOT provide positive connections among anyone in the tomb. This lack of evidence is then used to presume a marriage relationship between “Jesus” and “Mariamene,” who is identified as Mary Magdalene. But the ONLY THING the DNA evidence establishes positively is that this “Jesus” and this “Mariamene” found in the tomb are not maternally related. This hardly shows that they were probably married! So this is only a guess. She could have been married to any one of the four men, or to other family members, or she could someone’s daughter. We must remember that family tombs were from extended families and were often multi-generational. So, Mariamene could have lived decades earlier or later than Jesus. SOURCE
• From Western Michigan History professor Dr. Paul L. Maier: There is no reason whatever to equate “Mary Magdalene” with “Mariamene,” as Jacobovici claims. And so what if her DNA is different from that of “Yeshua”? That particular “Mariamme” (as it is usually spelled today) could indeed have been the wife of that particular “Yeshua,” who was certainly not Jesus. SOURCE
• From Dr. Ben Witherington: It would be nice if the other ossuaries from the Talpiot tomb could be DNA tested so we could find out if any of the folks in this tomb were related. We do not know. But it would not surprise me if none of them were. The practice of osslegium, or burial in ossuaries, continued on after A.D. 70 until the Bar Kokhba revolt at least. There is no reason why this Talpiot tomb might not reflect the period between A.D. 70 and 125 or so. SOURCE

One other issue here. DNA testing is somewhat expensive, but not prohibitively so. Would not the filmmakers case have been further strengthened (though not established by a long shot) by showing that the “Judah son of Jesus” in the tomb as a child of Mariemene e Mara and Yeshua? How about testing the DNA of the other Maria - said to indicate Jesus’ mother - and the Yeshua DNA? I have a hunch - total conjecture, of course - that those DNA tests were submitted and the results unreported when they turned out unfavorable to the filmmakers’ claims.

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