Strange First Century Symbols Discovered
Talpiot, a suburb of Jerusalem, is where Jesus’ tomb has been found. The tomb, with six inscribed ossuaries (bone boxes/coffins), was discovered in 1980. One of the inscriptions says: “Jesus, son of Joseph”. There are two Marys in the tomb, a Jose (the Gospels say one of Jesus’ brothers was called Jose) and a Matthew. Recently, the famous ossuary inscribed “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”, which was sold into the antiquities market, was chemically traced to the same tomb. Statistics Professor Andrey Feuerverger from the University of Toronto calls this cluster of names a statistical “slam dunk”, connecting the tomb to Jesus and his family. Put simply, the Talpiot tomb cannot belong to another first century “Jesus”. It belongs to the Jesus.
Because an earthly tomb for Jesus of Nazareth does not jive with some people’s theology and/or expectations, the world has ignored the Talpiot tomb. According to many, it must have belonged to some other Jesus, some other Mary and some other Jose. Everyone also ignores the fact that just a few meters from the Talpiot tomb, in an adjacent tomb, archaeologists discovered the earliest signs of Christianity: a cross, the “Sign of Jonah” and an inscription attesting to faith in resurrection.
Today, it was announced that just down the ridge from the Talpiot tomb, the Israel Antiquities Authority discovered a 1st century mikveh (a ritual bath) with strange, magical symbols: http://jamestabor.com/2015/08/05/1st-century-mikveh-with-mystical-inscriptions-discovered-in-jerusalem/. Experts have called the symbols “rare”, “unique” and even “most intriguing”. What they have not been called is what they really are: “early Christian”. The symbols include a boat and a tree (symbols of the early Christians). Clearly, the Talpiot area was a centre for Jesus’ earliest followers, congregating around his earthly grave. But, again, this doesn’t accord with people’s prejudices, so no one wants to draw any conclusions. mobdro for ipad No one wants to refer to these symbols as what they are – further proof that the area has unique burials and a unique ritual bath, congregating around the so-called “Talpiot tomb”. All this is additional proof that the Talpiot tomb belongs to none other than Jesus of Nazareth and his family.
Click here to watch a video on the finding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEKBUDcFYhI
