Bone box of Jesus’ brother discovered in Israel deemed ‘most significant item from time of Christ’
A 2,000-year-old bone box containing the name of Jesus’ brother, discovered in Israel, is now on display in the US.
The limestone coffin, or charnel house, bears the inscription ‘James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus’, written in ancient Aramaic.
Because the names match those of the brother and father of Jesus of Nazareth, many speculate that the coffin once contained the remains of James the Just, the first leader of the Christians in Jerusalem after the crucifixion.
The coffin is currently on display at Pullman Yards in Atlanta, as part of an exhibit featuring 350 historical artifacts from the time of Jesus.
The discovery, made in 1976, is described as “the most important item from the time of Christ,” according to the exhibition.
However, like many Biblical archaeological finds, the ossuary became embroiled in controversy shortly after its public unveiling in 2002.
In 2003, the owner, Oded Golan, was accused of forging the inscription, with experts claiming he added the phrase “brother of Jesus” to the limestone.
Golan fought to clear his name, and after a ten-year trial, the Israeli antiquities collector was acquitted. Yet the mystery of the ‘Jesus Box’ remains.
A 2,000-year-old bone box bearing the name of Jesus’ brother, discovered in Israel, is now on display in the US.
Although Golan was acquitted of all charges, the judge stated that the verdict “does not mean that the inscription on the ossuary is authentic or that it was written 2,000 years ago.”
“We conducted several chemical tests, especially on the inscription itself, the most critical element of the ossuary,” Golan said. Crosswalk heads this week.
“We have proven the entire inscription to be authentic; it was engraved thousands of years ago.”
If it were authentic, the ossuary would be the oldest physical evidence of Jesus.
During the first century, Jews laid their dead in caves and later collected the bones to place them in ossuaries.
The authenticity of the box is further questioned by some theologians who believe that Mary remained a virgin all her life, suggesting that the charnel house may be a forgery.
However, the box is empty – the bones were lost long ago.
The Bible mentions Jesus’ brothers several times: James, Judas, Simon, and Joses. James’s name always appears first, implying that he was the eldest among them.
Furthermore, several Bible passages suggest that James and his brothers did not initially believe that Jesus was the son of God.
The limestone coffin, or charnel house, bears the inscription ‘James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus’, written in ancient Aramaic
The discovery, made in 1976, is described as “the most important item from the time of Christ,” according to the exhibition.
According to Mark 3:21, when Jesus’ relatives heard of his actions, they went out to “seize” him because they believed that he was “mad.”
It is said that James died a martyr either in 62 AD. by being stoned by order of a high priest, or in 69 AD. by being thrown from the top of the Temple by scribes and Pharisees and then clubbed to death.
According to early church history, high priests had a mission to prevent the idea that Jesus was the Savior from spreading after the crucifixion.
Golan said he bought the James Ossuary while studying engineering in Israel.
“I didn’t realize the importance of it at all,” Golan said.
A 2015 study aimed to determine whether the James Ossuary may have come from a tomb believed to belong to the family of Jesus.
The Talpiot tomb was found south of the Old City in East Jerusalem in 1980 and contained six coffins with the names of Jesus’ brother, father and mother.
Researchers performed a chemical analysis on the James Ossuary and found that it contained signatures from the boxes found in the family grave.
It is said that James died a martyr either in 62 AD. by being stoned by order of a high priest, or in 69 AD. by being thrown from the top of the Temple by scribes and Pharisees and then clubbed to death.
Another artifact bearing the name of Jesus’ brother was found in 2017: a 1,600-year-old heretical document describing how Jesus passed on knowledge about heaven and future events, including the inevitable death of James.
The text, from the story the ‘First Apocalypse of James’, refers to James as the brother of Jesus, albeit ‘not materially’.
The story was considered ‘forbidden’ because writings that supplemented or changed the existing New Testament in any way were not allowed.
It is part of the Nag Hammadi Library, a series of 52 religious manuscripts written sometime between the 2nd and 6th centuries AD.
Spread across thirteen leather-bound parchment codices found buried in Egypt, they belong to a heretical tradition known as Gnosticism – an early, mysterious form of Christianity.