A Study of

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A Study of

• by Luke Chandler

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The Lost Tomb of Jesusa documentary film by

• - James Cameron
• Simcha Jacobovici -

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1st Century Jewish Burial Traditions

• After death, if the family had enough money, the
  body was placed in a family tomb.
• After one year the bones were moved to an
  ossuary, a small stone coffin, for permanent
  burial.
• Thousands of ossuaries from the 1st century have
  been found in the territory of Judea and Galilee.

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The Talpiot Tomb

• In 1980, during construction, a tomb was
  discovered in the Talpiot suburb near Jerusalem.
• An emergency excavation (common in Israel) was
  quickly conducted over three days.
• The tomb was dated to around the first century
  A.D.
• 6 of its 10 ossuaries had inscriptions with names.

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A Summary

• The documentary concludes Jesus body was taken
  from the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and reburied
  in a secret family tomb near Jerusalem.
• Other members of Jesus family were later buried
  in this same tomb.

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What is the Evidence?

• The filmmakers offer several pieces of evidence
  to support their claim.

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Evidence The Ossuaries

• All six names on the ossuaries are associated
  with Jesus in the Bible.

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Yeshua bar-Yosef(Jesus, son of Joseph)

• This is Jesus name in the Bible.
• 1st century Jews did not use last names.
• For identification, they used the names of their
  fathers.
• Simon bar-Jonah (Simon, son of Jonah) in Matthew
  1617.

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Maria(Mary)

• This is the name of Jesus mother.
• This ossuary was in the same tomb with Yeshua
  bar-Yosef (Jesus, son of Joseph).
• The occupant of this Maria ossuary would have
  been a member of the family of Yeshua.

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Matia(Matthew)

• There is no reason to believe that Matthew, the
  Apostle, was a relative of Jesus.
• Forms of this name exist in Marys genealogy in
  Luke 3, possibly making it a family name.
• It would therefore be reasonable for Jesus to
  have had a relative with a form of this name.

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Yose

• This is a nickname for Joseph.
• Mark uses this nickname for one of Jesus
  brothers.
• "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and
  brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?
  (Mark 63)

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Mariamenou e Mara

• This inscription is in Greek.
• The documentary translates this as Mariamne,
  also know as the Master
• Mary Magdalene, with the name Mariamne, was
  described as an Apostle in the Gospel of Philip,
  a 4th-century book.
• Mara means Master in Aramaic. (A reference to
  her authority in the Church?)
• Other traditions from that time suggest Mary
  Magdalene and Jesus were married.
• If this is true, it would be logical for her to
  be buried in a family tomb with Jesus.

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Yuda bar-Yeshua

• Judah, son of Jesus
• Jesus and his wife had a son named Judah.
• This Judah was buried in the same tomb with his
  father, Jesus.

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The Family, according to the documentary
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Evidence DNA Analysis

• Bone residue was found in the ossuaries for
  Jesus and Mariamne
• If Jesus and Mariamne were not blood-related,
  they could have been husband and wife.
• Mitochondrial DNA was extracted and tested.
• Tests concluded that Jesus and Mariamne were
  not maternally related.
• Thus, they could have been husband and wife.
• This is consistent with some of the traditions
  regarding Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

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Evidence Probability

• The filmakers asked Andrey Feuerverger, professor
  of Mathematics Statistics, to consider the
  probability of all these Bible names existing
  together in the same family tomb.
• He estimated the frequency of each name in first
  century Jewish society, based on the thousands of
  discovered ossuaries.

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His Conclusions

• All of the ossuary names were common, popular
  names in that time.
• 25 of women were named Maria (Mary)
• Joseph, Jesus, Judah and Matthew were all among
  the 10 most common names for men.

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All the names were common

• However, to have this specific cluster of names
  together in the same place is a less common
  event.
• The professor originally concluded that, if
  Mariamne can be linked to Mary Magdalene, the
  probability is 1 in 600 that this is not Jesus
  family tomb.

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Is it possible that this is the tomb of Jesus?

• How would this affect our faith?

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Could Jesus have had a spiritual resurrection?
The Bible says NO. It teaches that Jesus had a
physical resurrection.

• After the resurrection, Jesus disciples could
  touch His body.
• His restored form still bore the wounds of His
  death. (John 2020, 25 28)
• Mary was able to cling to Him. (John 201617)
• Jesus specifically told His disciples they were
  not seeing a spirit. (Luke 2436 39)
• To prove it, He ate food in front of them. (Luke
  2441 43)

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Many People Saw Jesus Alive After His Death

• I delivered to you as of first importance what I
  also received, that Christ died for our sins
  according to the Scriptures, and that He was
  buried, and that He was raised on the third day
  according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared
  to Cephas, then to the twelve.
• After that He appeared to more than five hundred
  brethren at one time, most of whom remain until
  now, but some have fallen asleep then He
  appeared to James, then to all the apostles and
  last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared
  to me also. (1 Corinthians 153-8)

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Jesus Resurrection is Essential to Our Faith

• if Christ has not been raised, then our
  preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
• Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses
  of God, because we testified against God that He
  raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact
  the dead are not raised and if Christ has not
  been raised, your faith is worthless you are
  still in your sins. Then those also who have
  fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
• If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we
  are of all men most to be pitied. (1 Corinthians
  1513-19)

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Is it possible that this is the tomb of Jesus?

• Can I be sure of the Truth?

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There are Problems with the Evidence

• Amos Kloner, the archaeologist who excavated the
  tomb in 1980
• "It makes a great story for a TV film, but There
  is no likelihood that Jesus and his relatives had
  a family tomb. They were a Galilee family with no
  ties in Jerusalem."

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Problems with the Theory

• 99 ossuaries with the name Jesus have been
  discovered in Judea and Galilee.
• 2 other ossuaries have been discovered with the
  name Jesus, son of Joseph
• Jesus and Joseph were very common names.
• The Talpiot Yeshua bar-Yosef ossuary is not
  unique due to its name.

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Problems with the Theory

• Tombs and ossuaries required money.
• Jesus and His family lived in poverty.
• His parents dedicated Him with a sacrifice of two
  birds the offering of a poor family. (Luke 222
  24 Leviticus 5)
• "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air
  have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay
  His head." (Matthew 820)
• Needed a miracle to pay His tax (Matthew 1724
  27)

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Problems with the Ossuary Evidence

• The names on the ossuaries were all popular,
  common names in the first century.
• Except for the Yeshua and Yuda ossuaries, there
  is no inscription describing the relationship
  between all of the names on the ossuaries.
• (Brothers? Sister? Parents? Children?)

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Problems with the Mariamne Translation

• Dr. Stephen Pfann
• The documentarys translation of the inscription
  is incorrect. It does not read Mariamne the
  Master.
• The inscription reflects the handwriting of two
  different people.
• The correct translation of the inscription is
  Mariame and Mara, a form of Martha based on
  other contemporary inscriptions and documents.
• The ossuary contained the bones of two women one
  named Miriam and the other Martha.
• No support exists for ascribing the ossuary to
  Mary Magdalene.

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The DNA Results are Insufficient

• The DNA test proved that Jesus and Mariame did
  not have the same mother.
• The DNA test proved only that Jesus and Mariame
  did not have the same mother.
• It is possible they had the same father, with
  different mothers.
• It is possible Mariame was a granddaughter of
  this Jesus.

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The Family, according to the documentary
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Based on the evidence, this is possible.
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This is also possible
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Problems with the Ossuary Evidence

• Jodi Magness Dept of Religious Studies at the
  University of North Carolina concludes
• This claim is inconsistent with all of the
  available information about how Jews in the time
  of Jesus buried their dead, and specifically the
  evidence we have about poor, non-Judean families
  like that of Jesus. It is a sensationalistic
  claim without any scientific basis or support."

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The Professor conceded a potential weakness with
his probability analysis

• The calculations are only accurate if several
  assumptions are made, including
• Marianemou e Mara is correctly identified as
  Mary Magdalene.
• Yose is not the same person as the father Yosef
  on the ossuary of Yeshua.
• After the documentary aired on the Discovery
  Channel, he revised his conclusions
• Originally 6001 in favor of this being Jesus
  family tomb.
• His conclusion is now 600 to 1 that an equally
  'surprising' cluster of names would arise purely
  by chance under given assumptions.

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Problems with the Statistics

• The strongest factor in the calculation Mary
  Magdalene was not in the tomb.
• What is the probability of Yose being the
  father of Yeshua, son of Yosef?
• Other factors were not included in the
  calculation
• What is the probability of Jesus, a poor
  carpenter, even having a family tomb?
• What is the probability of the tomb being kept a
  secret from all 1st-century skeptics of the
  bodily resurrection?
• What is the probability of such a family tomb
  being in Jerusalem instead of Galilee?

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Problems with the Gospel of Phillip

• It uses the name Mariamne to describe Mary
  Magdalene and describes her as a leader in the
  church.
• However, this book was written three centuries
  after her death.
• It was rejected in part because it created and
  repeated fictitious, fabricated information.
• Any suggestions of a marriage to Jesus did not
  appear for hundreds of years.
• This source is not reliable.

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Another Question

• If Jesus family and disciples buried Him, why
  preach the resurrection?
• The resurrection of Jesus was a proof of the
  Gospel in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 15).
  If Jesus body was not resurrected, what would be
  the difference between Jesus and Elijah? Jesus
  and Samuel?
• Jesus would simply be another prophet.
• Why did they carry the Gospel message of the
  resurrection (Acts 2) to the death?
• This is not logical.

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If the documentary has these problems, why take
so much time with it?

• It is a tool used to create doubt and skepticism.
• It is not important whether one actually believes
  its assertions.
• Satan wants people to simply doubt Jesus nature,
  power and purpose.

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Our Hope

• We have been buried with Him through baptism into
  death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead
  through the glory of the Father, so we too might
  walk in newness of life. For if we have become
  united with Him in the likeness of His death,
  certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His
  resurrection. (Romans 64-5)

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I suggest these useful, informative sites as they
relate to the Talpiot Tomb

• http//ntgateway.com/weblog
• http//www.uhl.ac/MariameAndMartha
• http//www.playfuls.com/news_0005725_DNA_and_Stati
  stics_in_Tomb_of_Jesus_Effectively_Debunked.html