The Jesus Tomb Hoax

Chase March 4th, 2007

Above, we have covered the five major claims made by the makers of the Jesus Family Tomb documentary and book. Here is a bit of a hodgepodge of other some other claims made, as well as problems inherent in each. This is kind of a general, catch all type post, so it won’t quite have the organizational structure of the above posts.

1. The filmmakers make a big fuss about the chevron-like symbol that is found over the door of the tomb. They speculate that it might give notice that a special family is buried inside, and then go on to postulate possible connections between the chevron symbol and other shady groups and theories like the Da Vinci Code, and the Knights Templar. SOURCE. Notably, they fail to recognize that the symbol which stands out so much on the front of the tomb argues against their core theory that it is the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. As Ben Witherington argues, why would the burial place of Jesus be so easily marked at a time when rumors of His resurrection were so rampant? If Jesus did not rise again, wouldn’t it be better to keep his final resting place as obscure as possible? Here’s an excerpt:

There is an interesting rosette or symbol over the Talpiot tomb, and from the pictures in the book inside the tomb as well. This is very interesting and it tells us one thing. This was a highly unusual and ornamental tomb meant to be recognized by the symbol. It is not, and indeed was not a secret tomb where a despised split off sect of Jesus following Jews could have hidden the bodies of Jesus or James or other family members. The ornamental decoration is meant to attract attention and draw people to the tomb. Indeed it is meant to distinguish the tomb from others. This is the opposite of what we would expect if this is a pre-70 A.D. Jesus family tomb. Remember we have clear historical evidence that Saul of Tarsus, from his own letters and from Acts was a persecutor of Christians. By the 40s this persecution got so bad that some Christians fled the city (see the sweep and trajectory of the story in Act 3-9). Under no circumstances would these beleaguered early Jewish Christians have been advertising where the bones of Jesus laid, if they knew. SOURCE

2. Another note: The Jesus Film’s leading historian is Dr. James Tabor. Here’s an interesting tidbit about his previous work, as quoted in Pulpit Magazine.

The show’s leading historian, James Tabor, published a book last year asserting that Joseph was not Jesus’ father. For him to now claim that an ossuary marked, “Jesus son of Joseph” contains the bones of Jesus Christ contradicts his own research SOURCE

3. The filmmakers also claim that ossuary burials only occurred from about 3o B.C. to 70 a.d. This claim has two functions: 1. Quite obviously, it is right in the midst of time that Jesus of Nazareth lived and 2. It limits the field of names with which to work their statistical magic. Their website says, “It is a bit of an archaeological oddity. For only about a hundred years, from 30 BCE to 70 CE (when the Romans destroyed the city), people in the Jerusalem area practiced a form of secondary burial. What this means is that when someone died family members wrapped the body in a shroud and placed it in a niche within a tomb carved out of the soft rock. Perhaps they left a few artifacts—a perfume bottle, a small lamp—to accompany the deceased.” SOURCE
Dr. Witherington again counters that argument, and writes, 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

There are quite a few other minor issues that are worth quibbling over, but these three should suffice for now.

• Jesus Tomb
• Comments(1)