Sunday, July 6, 2008
Some very interesting history here. I'm just amazed that ink writing on a rock has survived all these many, many years. Ancient Hebrew tablet sparks debate on Messiah - Scholars think it dates before birth of Jesus
JERUSALEM - A 3-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.
If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing reevaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, because it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.
The tablet - probably found near the Dead Sea in Jordan, according to some scholars who have studied it - is a rare example of a stone with ink writings from that era - in essence, a Dead Sea Scroll on stone.
It is written, not engraved, across two neat columns, similar to columns in a Torah. But the stone is broken and some of the text is faded, meaning that much of what it says is open to debate. Still, its authenticity has faced no challenge, so its role in helping to understand the roots of Christianity in the devastating political crisis faced by the Jews of the time seems likely to grow...
Jim Davilla has some background links you can follow through this post.
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, p.39
You are right to be amazed. I would submit that this "ancient tablet" is probably another sensationalist scam, as is clearly suggested by the facts
(1) that no specific information is available on its provenance ("probably found near the Dead Sea" doesn't quite do it for me); and
(2) that no details are provided on carbon dating of the ink or analysis of the stone.
As such, this "news" brings to mind the faked Lost-Tomb-of-Jesus "documentary" designed to financially profit from people's fascination with the "real" Jesus, as well as the larger scandal of the biased and misleading way the Dead Sea scrolls are being presented in museum exhibits around the world, with an antisemitic nuance emerging on a government-run North Carolina museum's website. See, e.g.,
http://spinozaslens.com/libet/articles/dworkin_ethicsofexhibition.htm (article critical of exhibits)
and
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/frontpew/archives/2008/06/dead_sea_scroll.shtml (discussion and further links)
Interesting links. Thanks.