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Last update - 16:12 07/07/2008
Dead Sea tablet suggests Jewish resurrection imagery pre-dates Jesus
By Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Jesus, Christianity 

The premise that the Messiah died and was resurrected after three days is considered the foundation of the Christian faith, one which differentiates it from Judaism. Through the generations, this belief stood at the center of the debate between Christians and Jews. But now, a mysterious tablet from the time of the second temple has led researchers to believe that this premise of messianic resurrection is not unique to Christianity, but rather existed in Judaism years before Jesus was born.

The tablet, which has been dubbed "Gabriel's vision" because much of its text deals with a vision of the apocalypse transmitted by the angel Gabriel, was discovered eight years ago, but a large part of it is illegible and researchers have had difficulty interpreting its meaning.

Israel Knohl, a professor of Bible studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has offered a new interpretation of this text recently, which has sparked interest in the Christian realm. Knohl's interpretation could shed light on the history of Jesus and the way Christianity grew out of Judaism.
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"Gabriel's vision," a previously unknown prophetic text written in the first century B.C.E., was written on a large gray limestone tablet. In the center of the text, which includes quotes from the Bible and prophetic verses, there is an image of the angel Gabriel. The tablet was not discovered in an organized archaeological excavation, therefore the location of its discovery is not clear. Some believe it was found in Jordan on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea.

The New York Times reported recently that the tablet was bought from a Jordanian antiquities dealer by an Israeli-Swiss collector who kept it in his Zurich home. When an Israeli scholar examined it closely a few years ago and wrote a paper on it last year, interest began to rise. There is now a spate of scholarly articles on the stone, with several due to be published in the coming months.

"I couldn't make much out of it when I got it," said David Jeselsohn, the owner, who is himself an expert in antiquities. "I didn't realize how significant it was until I showed it to Ada Yardeni, who specializes in Hebrew writing, a few years ago. She was overwhelmed. 'You have got a Dead Sea Scroll on stone,' she told me."

Yardeni and fellow researcher Binyamin Elitzur published a long analysis of the text in the Hebrew-language history and archaeology quarterly "Cathedra". However, Professor Knohl interpreted one of the words in the text differently, changing the meaning of the text entirely.

"This is a revolutionary text," Knohl said when presenting his research at a conference marking 60 years since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls held this week at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. "The text changes the way we look at the historical Jesus, and provides a missing link connecting Judaism and Christianity," he added.

"I identified a previously unrecognized Jewish notion that the blood of the messiah is necessary in order to bring about national redemption. The idea of a tortured messiah who was resurrected three days after his death was adopted by Judaism before the birth of Jesus. The main ideas of the Jesus myth existed in Judaism," Knohl went on to say.

In the "Gabriel's vision" text there are 87 lines. Toward the end, on the 80th line, there is an unclear sentence containing the words "shloshat yamin" (three days). The next word is broken up, and when the text was first published, three dots were used in its place. However, Professor Knohl recognized it as "Hayia", which he interpreted to be the command form of the work "Hai", to live, concluding that the text is describing the angel Gabriel as someone who raises from the dead the prophet leader named "Minister of ministers" three days after his death. He associates this minister with a historic figure-a Jewish leader named Shimon who declared himself king and led a failed rebellion against Herod in the year 4 B.C.E. until he was killed by Herod's army.
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  2.   A Jewish "scholar" reveals his bias 10:54  |  Clickfool 07/07/08
  3.   So, maybe Yeshua (Jesus) var the Mashiach after all then... 10:56  |  Maamina 07/07/08
  4.   Israel Knohl theories on biblical tablet 11:07  |  Alan Abbey 07/07/08
  5.   THERE GOES CHRISTIANITY!!! OOOPS! 11:23  |  Samy 07/07/08
  6.   explosive stuff, should not be in Haaretz 11:32  |  dyinglikeflies 07/07/08
  7.   Guess what 11:33  |  Sorry but... 07/07/08
  8.   Read again Samy 12:18  |  Josef Mica 07/07/08
  9.   So what`s new? 12:45  |  Sherlock Holmes 07/07/08
  10.   On the back it has a report on the Nadal/Federer Final 13:03  |  Ronnie Wolman 07/07/08
  11.   Missing Link? 13:04  |  Miriam 07/07/08
  12.   This confirms Christianity 13:05  |  Petru Ion 07/07/08
  13.   What bias? FOOL @2 13:11  |  Joe Moer 07/07/08
  14.   Difficulty in interpreting its meaning 13:13  |  Michael Cecil 07/07/08
  15.   A n australopithecine theory 13:27  |  A thinking Jew 07/07/08
  16.   # 3 and the sky is pink with green spots 13:28  |  Jew 07/07/08
  17.   Ok click fool they pre-existed in ISLAM 13:29  |  just for you... 07/07/08
  18.   To #6: It was in the NYT. Yesterday 13:37  |  reader 07/07/08
  19.   New research of Christianity?s accepted facts 13:38  |  H.H.M 07/07/08
  20.   ONLY CLICKFOOL.... 13:45  |  Brant 07/07/08
  21.   #5 13:57  |  Christian 07/07/08
  22.   New research of Christianity?s accepted facts 13:57  |  H.H.M. 07/07/08
  23.   Resurrection 14:03  |  NK 07/07/08
  24.   Clickfool #2 14:12  |  examiner 07/07/08
  25.   Dead Sea Tablets 14:31  |  Abraham Habash 07/07/08
  26.   Several Messianic cults and sects of Judaism existed. 14:43  |  The Equalizer 07/07/08
  27.   #5 - seems like you totally understand what is being said? 14:57  |  redmike 07/07/08
  28.   of course it does. old news 15:05  |  Jos 07/07/08
  29.   jesus 15:45  |  jem 07/07/08
  30.   p.s 15:56  |  jem 07/07/08
  31.   yeshua and the dying messiah texts 16:20  |  augustine e johnson- 07/07/08
  32.   #24: Jesus Doesn`t Fullfil OT Prophecies but rather Typologies 16:26  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 07/07/08
  33.   # 11 Dear Miriam The Missing Linc? 17:10  |  KATHY 07/07/08
  34.   Various messianic concepts 17:15  |  Mariano 07/07/08
  35.   Clickfool you sad puppy 17:18  |  Harvey (Chaim) 07/07/08
  36.   Jesus 17:33  |  BILL 07/07/08
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  38.   Can we bury the Meshiah for eternity? 18:19  |  Joe Hulllitse 07/07/08
  39.   quibble 19:02  |  potobac 07/07/08
  40.   No so surprising 19:24  |  MichaelF 07/07/08
  41.   To Clickfool #2 19:52  |  Peter 07/07/08
  42.   Its always like that 19:59  |  Shek 07/07/08
  43.   To # Miriam - correction 20:00  |  David 07/07/08
  44.   Belief 20:02  |  shekar 07/07/08
  45.   It is difficult to may you understand. 20:04  |  shekar 07/07/08
  46.   that is your inrpratation 20:06  |  shekar 07/07/08
  47.   All religious stories were stolen from earlier.... 20:12  |  Deborah 07/07/08
  48.   Very convenient, writing on stone, so it cannot be dated -- This 20:14  |  Absalom 07/07/08
  49.   #5 Samy 20:28  |  Jim 07/07/08
  50.   #9 Sherlock Holmes 20:54  |  Jim 07/07/08
  51.   #21 Christian 21:14  |  Jim 07/07/08
  52.   For Brant # 20 21:16  |  Clickfool 07/07/08
  53.   For Peter # 34 21:19  |  Clickfool 07/07/08
  54.   Pro Jesus 21:22  |  Follwer of Christ 07/07/08
  55.   This strengthens Christianity 21:27  |  Terry 07/07/08
  56.   no reason to get excited, the thief he kindly spoke... 21:29  |  frenz 07/07/08
  57.   #23 NK 21:34  |  Jim 07/07/08
  58.   Christianity is false; Islam speaks of the true Jesus 21:42  |  Ex-Christian 07/07/08
  59.   Applied Ignorance 21:49  |  A thinking Jew 07/07/08
  60.   #32 Alb 22:22  |  Jim 07/07/08
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  62.   #37 Potobac 22:59  |  Jim 07/07/08
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  64.   #51 Clickfool