Mysterious bones of Jesus, Joseph and Mary

The Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | February 24, 2007 | By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem

[aculeus]

In a scene worthy of a Dan Brown novel, archaeologists a quarter of a century ago unearthed a burial chamber near Jerusalem.

Inside they found ossuaries, or boxes of bones, marked with the names of Jesus, Joseph and Mary.

Then one of the ossuaries went missing. The human remains inside were destroyed before any DNA testing could be carried out.

While Middle East academics doubt that the relics belong to the Holy Family, the issue is about to be exposed to a blaze of publicity with the publication next week of a book.

Entitled The Jesus Tomb and co-written by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino, the book promises the inside story of "what may very well be the greatest archaeological find of all time".

Some of the ossuaries will be at the book launch in New York, released by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The story began in March 1980 when Yosef Gat, an archaeologist employed by the IAA, surveyed a burial chamber on the south-eastern approaches of Jerusalem.

The area was being developed into the latest suburb of the city, East Talpiot, and bulldozers had uncovered an archaeological site.

Mr Gat found a standard-looking Jewish tomb dating from the era of King Herod, the Jewish king known for his ambitious building works and for his murder of infants at the time of the birth of Jesus.

After crawling into the necropolis Mr Gat found the main chamber had been silted up with soil and debris, with six "kokhim", coffin shaped spaces leading off the main chamber where human remains were housed.

According to Jewish rites, bodies would be left for a year or so to decompose in the "kokhim" before relatives came back to gather the bones and store them in ossuaries.

Mr Gat found 10 ossuaries bearing inscriptions. Some were in ancient Greek and some were in Hebrew.

One inscription said "Jesus, son of Joseph", another said "Mara", a common form of Mary, and another said "Yose", a common form of Joseph.

The authors were unavailable for comment yesterday but it is understood they base their claim that the burial chamber contained the remains of the Holy Family on their own study carried out inside the structure.

The chamber has been closed for years because a building was constructed on top of it but the authors got permission to break through an apartment block floor.

They claim to have found human material on which they performed DNA testing in a New York laboratory.

"Tests prove the names are genetically of the same family and statistically, there is a one in 10 million chance this is a family other than the Holy Family," the pre-publication publicity for the book said.

However, according to strict Christian teaching, Jesus ascended to heaven, so there would be no bones left behind.

Mr Gat died several years ago. His boss, Prof Amos Kloner said that while the names together had "a certain power" they are standard.

"At least three other ossuaries have been found inscribed with the name Jesus and countless others with Joseph and Mary," he said.

The 10 ossuaries were taken initially to the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum outside the Old City of Jerusalem. Nine were catalogued and stored but the tenth was left outside in a courtyard.

That ossuary has subsequently gone missing.

The story went cold until two accounts of the discovery were published by Israeli academics in the mid 1990s. Prof Kloner wrote the second one in the IAA's in-house magazine Atiquot in 1996.

It sparked publicity, most notably a BBC programme shown that Easter produced by Ray Bruce called The Body In Question. However, Prof Kloner said there was no way the tomb housed the Holy Family.

"It is just not possible that a family who came from Galilee, as the New Testament tells us of Joseph and Mary, would be buried over several generations in Jerusalem."

However, in this Dan Brown era, we can't help wondering.

[Frank Sheed]

http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ482.HTM

Dave Armstrong on Mary

[presently no screen name]

Yes :-)

[Halgr]

This is the email I have sent to many Christians.....

---

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It has come to my attention that "The Discovery Channel" is going to
air a "Hit Piece" on Jesus Sun, March 4, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

In essence, their program will refute The Resurrection.

If this had been a program refuting something about Mohammed or Islam,
of course it would never have been conceived or carried out.

Its time we speak out against this prime time apostacy.

Here is the link

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/tomb/tomb.html?dcitc=w99-502-ah-1024

The Discovery Channel Contact page is located at this URL

http://extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations

Please forward this to all your Christian Friends and lets all join
together in letting "The Discovery Channel" know how we feel.

Hal Grixxxx

[Diggity]

Here is a better article about it.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/02/25/tomb_arc.html?category=archaeology&guid=20070225073000

John

[Diggity]

Here is a better article about it.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/02/25/tomb_arc.html?category=archaeology&guid=20070225073000

John

[Diggity]

Sorry, didn't read your post before I posted mine (twice lol).

John

[SunkenCiv]

Charles Pellegrino...where have I heard that Name Before???

He is one of those who has championed the idea that A) a supposed super-eruption on Thera ended the Minoan civilization and B) gave rise to the Atlantis legend.

[SunkenCiv]

Just adding this to the GGG catalog, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
Gods, Graves, Glyphs PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[DaveTesla]

You are correct.
And not just in Catholic doctrine.

The sins of the father are inherited by the son.
Original sin is the moral corruption inherited by all men from Adam.

Which is why Jesus could not have ANY descendant of Adam for a father.

Jesus was without sin.

[NeoCaveman]

Just wait, next we'll hear "counterfeit bones of the Holy Family suddenly appear in the Bahamas."

Howard K. Stern claims to be representing them.

[DaveTesla]

Jesus takes away my pain in this life.
Jesus takes away my overburdening guilt for the sins I have committed.
Jesus gives me faith and hope.


I doubt the Leftists / communists/ socialists whom
wish to raise themselves up in his place can ever do
any of the above.

They hate Jesus because I am bound to him and not enslaved to them.

Jesus is true freedom.

Yes Mr communist discovery channel you can never have me or my family.

[Lutheran Loft II]

Amen.

[Lutheran Loft II]

He sells some really good water!

[DaveTesla]

Isaiah 7:13

The Prophesy of the Virgin Birth



13. Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my
God also? 14. Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son,
and shall call His name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7.14b Immanuel: That is God is with us.

[DaveTesla]

The Prophecy is forfilled:

Matthew 1:22-25
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
23“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,”£
which is translated, “God with us.”
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and
did not know her till she had brought forth her£ firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.


Luke 1:27
27 To a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And
having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; £blessed are you among
women!” 29 But £when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then
the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will
conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign
over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
35And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will
overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed,
Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was
called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Keep the faith.

[DaveTesla]

"As was her supposed Immaculate Conception"

What do you make of the above two scriptures?
(195, 196)

[Bohemund]

I loved this from the article:

"Since tombs normally contain either blood relations or spouses, Jacobovici and his team suggest it is possible Jesus and Mary Magdalene were a couple. "Judah," whom they indicate may have been their son, could have been the "lad" described in the Gospel of John as sleeping in Jesus' lap at the Last Supper."

Where exactly does John describe a kid sleeping in Jesus' lap at the Last Supper?.

[DaveTesla]

"The assumption of the Virgin is Church tradition. It's not in the Bible

It's not?

Whats that in my post 195,196?

[George W. Bush]

What do you make of the above two scriptures? (195, 196)

Make of them? I accept them as ancient prophecy foretelling the virgin birth of Christ, entirely orthodox doctrine in the church of Rome, the Orthodox, Protestants, Baptists, evangelicals. These prophecies are integral to the birth of Christ and the validity of scripture as divinely inspired.

You do understand we're not talking about Jesus' birth and sinlessness, we're talking about the RC claim that Mary was also sinless from birth (and also ascended directly to Heaven as Jesus did).

Hopefully, that answered your question. If not, you'll have to ask more directly.