Amazing discovery and accusation of forgery. James son of Joseph brother of Jesus.

 

The story begins in 2002 when French palaeographer from the University of Paris ( Sorbonne ) Andre Lemaire bought from Israeli engineer and antiques collector Oded Golan a bone urn of the deceased referred to as ossuary ( from Latin ossuarius , bone). The urn was decorated with an inscription in Aramaic. Andre Lemaire, an outstanding specialist in Western Semitic languages, conducted a detailed study of the inscription:

 

Ya'akov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua

James son of Joseph brother of Jesus

After the publication of the sensational news all hell broke loose. The Israel Antiquites Authority (IAA), after a cursory examination of the inscription, determined that it was from the year 2000, filed suit against the Israeli engineer in the Jerusalem District Court accusing him of forgery. The accusation was based on the sole information of unemployed anthropologist Joe Zias that he had previously seen an ossuary in an antique store without part of the "brother of Jesus" inscription. However, during the trial, the anthropologist admitted that he had only seen the urn for a few seconds and would not have been able to give a reliable expert opinion even by spending more time on it.

Nevertheless, the trial dragged on for more than 5 years, because the inscription was studied by a great many specialists in paleography. We should also add that the results of the research done by Andre Lemaire were not taken into account at the beginning. It was not until Golan's defense presented the court with a 1976 photograph showing the urn with the inscription that a breakthrough in the case began. The authenticity of the photo was confirmed by a former FBI expert. Ossuary of James (photo below ) is one of the most important and oldest pieces of evidence apart from the Dead Sea Scrolls confirming the physical existence of Jesus, which drives opponents of Jesus' existence crazy.

 

 

 

 

The whole accusation was supported by the Israeli IAA, which, as stated did not supervise the excavation in the area of Silwan where the urn was found so the origin of the ossuary is questionable... For people who are not familiar with how archaeological work is done in Israel, I would like to explain how it looks like. Excavations conducted in Jerusalem or elsewhere are divided into two types; government supervised excavations and unsupervised excavations. In order to carry out excavations accredited by the government one has to go through a series of tedious procedures. If someone cares about time, because in a given area for example some construction starts, he does it without accreditation. Additionally, accreditation for archaeologists looking for finds connected with the life of Jesus Christ and the Apostles is made difficult in every way. Among the leading independent archaeologists working in Israel are Dr. Don Patton and Dr. Eli Shukron, who more than once "exposed themselves" to various harassments from the scientific community. The main objection to the rejection of any archaeological find, especially related to the New Testament, is the lack of accreditation from the Israeli Government or other governmental institutions. This is an ongoing practice within Israel to ridicule and invalidate valuable archaeological finds "inconvenient" to the current world system.

 

Ending the trial and preventing further research

After refuting a number of absurd accusations made throughout the trial, it ended with a verdict acquitting Oded Golan of the forgery charge. Only one charge was upheld, which actually has little significance in the context of the so-called "forgery trial of the century". Namely, the Israeli collector was sentenced to a fine of 30,000 shekels (about 29 thousand PLN). for illegally dealing in antiques.

On March 14, 2012, a collector of antiquities, well-known throughout Israel, went through an ordeal that lasted more than 7 years (the trial itself took more than 5 years). 128 witnesses were interviewed and the case file totaled more than 12,000 pages. The justification for the acquittal was contained in 474 pages. All that was awaited was the return of the urn in order to carry out further research into the inscription, which had caused a real storm among the scientific community and beyond.

One of the saddest pieces of information I came across was that the ossuary itself James the Just It has also divided biblical circles. One of the most absurd accusations I encountered was that one man simply "pulled down" the find completely claiming that he knew Aramaic and that it was impossible for this inscription to have been made at all during the first century, calling the find, among other things, a "Jewish hoax. This man had never seen hand-made Aramaic inscriptions with his own eyes, and his knowledge comes from unknown sources. Probably he relied on one of the many "sensational" portals which wrote extensively on the "forgery" itself, while after the acquittal they wrote little or nothing about it.

 

 

At the same time information began to spread that the acquittal is not a confirmation that the phrase "brother of Jesus" is authentic and that further, painstaking and detailed research must be carried out, after which the ossuary was returned with a damaged inscription with traces of silicone on a fragment of the inscription "brother of Jesus", which makes it completely impossible to carry out any research, which after such damage could be challenged across the board.

Final determinations regarding the authenticity of the ossuary during the trial:

1. The construction of the urn follows the school of Shammaya, an important religious authority from the first century.
2. The urn itself was found in the Silwan necropolis, which has been marked for centuries as the likely burial place of Jacob the Just.
3. The age of the ossuary is dated to about 63 after the birth of Jesus which is further proof of the thesis that James died around this time ( in 62-63 )
4. The very character and italics of the inscription are undoubtedly from the period before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70. The characteristic feature pointed out by Andre Lemaire is that the Aramaic language from the time of the fall of Jerusalem already had references to the current Hebrew language, which is why part of the inscription is a "mixture" of Aramaic and modern Hebrew. Such a "language mix" from this period has over 4000 exhibits !
5. The writing of ancestry on urns (e.g. father's name) was used only when a person had in his family someone exceptionally famous or with a very high social function and his name was added to the name of the deceased as an indication that the person was related to him. In addition, of the 10,000 urns found so far, only two have the brother's name written on them. The first urn is the one in this article where the name of Jesus is written, and the second urn was found in the antique store seen by Joe Zias, on whose account the prosecution is based. This urn also bore the three names "Joseph, Judah and Hadas.

I am surprised that people were so easily fooled by the information about the forgery, while not many people are talking about the acquittal. I used several foreign sources, because looking through the information about the whole process in our Polish backyard, I grabbed my head. I haven't seen such discrepancies in information for a long time and I wonder if such a thing as journalistic integrity exists in Poland.

This article itself is not necessary for unbelievers; instead, it is mainly aimed at people who hold a scientific worldview or who believe in "their own experience backed by knowledge."

May Jesus Christ bless you.

 

____________

 

The text is written by Christopher. I thank him for a great job.

 

As for the text itself, there is a rhetorical question:

In light of the above facts, can the present Israel be considered the Israel of God?

One more point. I will admit right away that I am weak in biblical archaeology. However, from the findings and excavations that I know of, most if not all relate to ancient Israel. However, we are unlikely to find any discoveries related to the life of Jesus and the apostles. If someone knows better let him correct me.