Luceat!

Once again on the front page of national news media is another archaeologist proclaiming that his most recent discovery exposes Christianity as fraudulent. A tablet called, “Gabriel’s Vision of Revelation” is said to contain evidence that Jews 100 years before Christ were anticipating a messiah that would die and three days later rise from the dead. Israel Knohl, the scholar who proposed this translation of Line 80 of the tablet says, “Resurrection after three days becomes a motif developed before Jesus, which runs contrary to nearly all scholarship. What happens in the New Testament was adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier messiah story.”

One catch is that the tablet isn’t a new discovery. The tablet has been known by archaeologists for sometime. In the first publication of the text line 80 was not fully translated because it was too difficult to determine what words were written. Knohl claims that line 80 says, “In three days you shall live, I, Gabriel, command you.” Not all archaeologists are convinced yet by Knohl’s claim, though some are and others at least acknowledge its plausibility.

This proposal, like the many others we’ve had to bear over the past few years, is really a questioning of the historicity of the Gospels of the New Testament. Whether the Jews were expecting a messiah who would die and rise three days later or not really doesn’t matter in the fundamental question that Christianity is concerned with: Is the tomb empty? If the tomb is empty, if Jesus really is risen, then it doesn’t really matter if people were expecting it or not. Some will say their expectations support the Christian claim, others argue that it hurts the Christian claim. Either way, their expectations have no effect on the outcome of reality.

It seems that the “Gabriel’s Vision” tablet shows that the type of Messiah Jesus was stood in contrast to the type of messiah the Jews expected. The tablet tells of a man who was leading a rebellion against the Romans. This is what the Jewish people were expecting. They expected an earthly Kingdom established by a coming messiah. Of course, what we see in Christ is a messiah whose ‘kingship is ‘not of this world.’ Who goes out to the ‘Hill Country of Galilee’, a place of revolution, and says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Who tells his people to go ‘two’ miles when a Roman soldier makes you carry his bags. So, whether you want Jesus to be a messiah who is completely unexpected or a messiah who lives up to mainstream 1st century Jewish expectations, you can have both in the “Gabriel’s Vision” tablet.

In the end, expectations don’t have any effect on reality. The real question lies in whether Christianity’s claim of the empty tomb is true or not. The reality is that Jesus Christ walked this Earth and his tomb was found empty without a ‘reasonable’ explanation. After witnessing to this his followers spread throughout the world becoming the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. The Saints that have been raised up and the miracles that have been chronicled and witnessed too are innumerable. If it is all a lie then I hope someone proves it soon, but until then the evidence is too great not to react.