Ancient Box Supposedly Containing the Remains of Jesus' Brother "Vandalized" by Israeli Officials

By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post Reporter

November 13, 2013|7:20 pm

 

A disputed limestone box believed by some to contain the remains of James, the brother of Jesus Christ, has allegedly been vandalized by Israeli officials who had been analyzing it for forgery.

 

"It could be the earliest inscription of the word 'Jesus' ever found, but we may never know. In their fruitless zeal to prove that the inscription 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus' was forged by Oded Golan or an Egyptian craftsman working under his direction, the Israel Antiquities Authority permitted a series of destructive tests that proved nothing and may have destroyed the chances of ever knowing the truth," wrote Jerusalem-based journalist Matthew Kalman in a blog.

The inscription on the 2000-year-old burial box was initially suspected by Israeli officials to be a forgery by Golan, a private collector, who said that he obtained the box along with an ancient tablet from Arab traders in East Jerusalem about a decade ago.

A three-judge panel of Israeli Supreme Court justices finally decided to return the item to the private collector after a decade-long legal battle, which had more than 100 hearings and 12,000 pages of documents, admitting that it was unable to find evidence that the inscription is a forgery.

Full report here:
Ancient Box Supposedly Containing the Remains of Jesus' Brother Vandalized by Israeli Officials