Posted on 04/30/2014 11:14:08 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In 1970, a rock-cut tomb was discovered by workers building a private house in Jerusalem's Givat Hamivtar neighborhood. Inside the two-chambered burial, dating back to the first century BCE, archeologists found a decorated ossuary – a limestone box containing the bones of the deceased – and an enigmatic Aramaic inscription affixed to the wall.
"I am Abba, son of Eleazar the priest," proclaimed the 2,000-year-old text. "I am Abba, the oppressed, the persecuted, born in Jerusalem and exiled to Babylon, who brought back Mattathiah son of Judah and buried him in the cave that I purchased."
Who was Abba, this unfortunate priest from Jerusalem? And who was the Mattathiah whose remains were apparently buried in the cave?
These questions have been fiercely debated by scholars for the past 40 years. Now. new research indicates that the initial interpretation of the find, that has long been dismissed, may have been right all along. This view identifies the Abba cave as the final resting place of a key figure in Jewish history: Mattathiah Antigonus II, the last king of the Hasmonean dynasty, whose reign was followed by Roman conquest, the destruction of the Second Temple and two millennia of exile...
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
Abba=Son of the father
Well so much for the Palestinian’s mantra that the Jews never lived in Israel before the British brought them there following WW II.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Interesting....
I love it when the academic-types try to remove Christ from the collective conscience by using the designation Before the Common Era (BCE), instead of Before Christ (BC). So, just when did this so-called "Common Era" begin? Oh, I see. At the time of Christ, was it? BCE is a metaphor for the Devil who tries to deceive the world by demonstrating that Jesus Christ doesn't exist; but Christ prevails - He is still there and can not be vanquished.
Abba = father. Jesus referred to His Father as Abba in His prayer to Him. Jewish children call their fathers Abba.
Thanks, I thought it was part of the Swedish singing group.
No. In Aramaic, "Abba" literally means "father" (it's the cognate of the Hebrew av). It was also used as a man's first name in Second Temple times. "Son" would be bar. The name "Barabas" which appears in the Christian Scriptures means "son of Abba."
"BCE" and "CE" were first used by British Jews in the 19th Century so that they could use the same dates as everyone else without making any statement that would contradict their faith. It is now used by most Jews around the world, and is used by archaeologists, especially when writing about the Middle East, where not offending Jewish or Moslem governments is prerequisite to getting permission to dig.
By Abba, you’re right. I got ahead of...uh, behind myself. My fault. Thank you for setting me straight.
Here is a pretty comprehensive blog about the “Abba tomb” and the possibility it holds the remains of a Jewish King of the Hasemonean line.
Apparently, like all discoveries in Israel, there is a lot of controversy among archeologists and this gives all sides.
http://jamestabor.com/2014/04/29/the-abba-cave-crucifixion-nails-and-the-last-hasmonean-king/
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