BiblePlaces Blog

Not Guilty: James Ossuary Trial Ends

A judge in Jerusalem today declared defendants Oded Golan and Robert Deutsch not guilty of charges that they forged an inscription on the James Ossuary. The court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove that the inscription was forged and denounced the Israeli police forensics laboratory for contaminating the ossuary. Matthew Kalman has been covering the trial for the last 7 years. He reports:

Mr. Golan had been accused of adding the second half of the inscription linking it to Jesus, and then fabricating the patina, the bio-organic coating that adheres to ancient objects, to pass it off as genuine.
But Judge Farkash said the prosecution had failed to prove any of the serious charges against Mr. Golan and acquitted him on all but three minor charges of illegal antiquities dealing and possession of stolen antiquities. Robert Deutsch, a co-defendant, was acquitted on all charges.
“The prosecution failed to prove beyond all reasonable doubt what was stated in the indictment: that the ossuary is a forgery and that Mr. Golan or someone acting on his behalf forged it,” Judge Farkash told the court, summarizing his 475-page verdict.
He noted that it was the first time a criminal court had been asked to rule in a case of antiquities forgery.
The spectacular collapse of the trial, nine years after Mr. Golan was arrested and thousands of items were seized from his home, office and warehouses in Tel Aviv, was a severe blow to the Israeli police and Israel Antiquities Authority, who claimed they had exposed “the tip of the iceberg” of an international conspiracy selling fake artifacts to collectors and museums worldwide.

Kalman’s full report is here. The judge’s verdict does not prove that the inscription is authentic, but that the 100+ witnesses of the prosecution failed to prove that it was forged. Dan Bahat appears to have been the one behind the 60 Minutes charade to condemn Golan on the basis of testimony of an Egyptian craftsman.

A humbled Israel Antiquities Authority immediately issued a press release.

During the trial the judge was presented with the conclusions of an expert committee of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the universities, which unequivocally established that the finds are forgeries. The court had to decide professional issues in the field of archaeology, which are not frequently heard in a court of law.

In other words, the judge is not competent to decide the case. Their claims that forgery were “unequivocally established” is a slap in the face of the court and indicates that their desperate measures have not ceased.

The release then continues to explain just how this case was a “win” for them and why seven years and significant resources spent was worth it for the public.

Hershel Shanks has written a brief but helpful report with some behind-the-scenes details about the investigation of the ossuary and other disputed artifacts.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the verdict does not prove that (1) the inscription is ancient or (2) the ossuary belonged to someone mentioned in the New Testament or (3) forgeries do not abound in the antiquities market.

The James ossuary was on display at the Royal Ontario Museum from November 15, 2002 to January 5, 2003.

Tagged Forgery

New Book: Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith?

Crossway has just released a 540-page book with more than 20 articles from a number of leading evangelical scholars. The full title is Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith? A Critical Appraisal of Modern and Postmodern Approaches to Scripture.

Amazon has a list of endorsements, but I find the table of contents to be much more helpful in seeing the potential value of this book for my studies and thinking. (It’s probable that most of the reviewers endorsed the book based on the table of contents and did not read the book.)

Before adding the (lengthy) contents listing, a few additional notes: (1) Crossway’s website has the first chapter for free; (2) the paperback sells for $23, but the Kindle version is now just $10; (3) I have put in bold the chapters of most interest to me personally.

Part 1: Biblical, Systematic, and Historical Theology:

1. Thomas H. McCall, “Religious Epistemology, Theological Interpretation of Scripture, and Critical Biblical Scholarship: A Theologian’s Reflections”

2. Graham A. Cole, “The Peril of a ‘Historyless’ Systematic Theology”

3. Mark D. Thompson, “The Divine Investment in Truth: Toward a Theological Account of Biblical Inerrancy”

4. James K. Hoffmeier, “‘These Things Happened’: Why a Historical Exodus Is Essential for Theology”

5. Michael A. G. Haykin, “Fundamentum et Columnam Fidei Nostrae: Irenaeus on the Perfect and Saving Nature of the Scriptures”

Part 2: Old Testament and Issues of History, Authenticity, and Authority

6. Richard E. Averbeck, “Pentateuchal Criticism and the Priestly Torah”

7. Robert B. Chisholm Jr., “Old Testament Source Criticism: Some Methodological Miscues”

8. Robert D. Bergen, “Word Distribution as an Indicator Authorial Intention: A Study of Gen. 1:1-2:3″

9. John W. Hilber, “The Culture of Prophecy and Writing in the Ancient Near East”

10. Richard L. Schultz, “Isaiah, Isaiahs, and Current Scholarship”

11. Alan Millard, “Daniel in Babylon: An Accurate Record?”

12. Willem A. VanGemeren & Jason Stanghalle, “A Critical-Realistic Reading of Psalms Titles: Authenticity, Inspiration and Evangelicals”

13. Jens Bruun Kofoed, “The Old Testament as Cultural Memory”

Part 3: New Testament and Issues of History, Authenticity, and Authority

14. Robert W. Yarbrough, “God’s Word in Human Words: Form-Critical Reflections”

15. Craig L. Blomberg, “A Constructive Traditional Response to New Testament Criticism”

16. Darrell L. Bock, “Precision and Accuracy: Making Distinctions in the Cultural Context that Give
Us Pause in Pitting Gospels Against Other”

17. Eckhard J. Schnabel, “Paul, Timothy, and Titus: The Assumption of a Pseudonymous Author and of Pseudonymous Recipients in the Light of Literary, Theological, and Historical Evidence”

18. Thomas W. Davis, “Saint Paul on Cyprus: The Transformation of an Apostle”

Part 4: The Old Testament and Archaeology

19. John M. Monson, “Enter Joshua: The Mother of Current Biblical Debates”

20. Richard S. Hess, “Yahweh’s ‘Wife’ and Belief in One God in the Old Testament”

21. Michael G. Hasel, “New Excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa and the Early History of Judah”

22. Steven M. Ortiz, “The Archaeology of David and Solomon: Method or Madness?”

Tagged Resources

Swifts Welcomed at Western Wall

From Arutz-7:

The Common Swift, a unique bird that spends most of its life on the wing, returns to Western Wall for a short vacation from Africa. Nature-lovers are planning a welcoming ceremony Monday.
The Friends of the Swifts Association, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, and Tel Aviv University are working together to save existing nesting sites of the special bird. Its arrival at the Western Wall also symbolizes the approaching spring, said the sponsors of the welcoming ceremony.
[…]
They said that a special study to map the nests was conducted in 2002 by researcher Ulrich Tigges and by the late Prof. Mendelssohn, during which 88 nests were noted. This study map served as a guideline during the work of strengthening the Western Wall, keeping the nests unblocked.

The full story is here.

Birds have been making their nests near the temple ever since the psalmist wrote, “Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, a place near your altar….Blessed are those who dwell in your house” (Psalm 84:3-4).

Pigeon perched in hollow of the Western Wall

Tagged Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Weekend Roundup

Bryant Wood has written a short summary of the 2009 and 2010 excavation seasons at Khirbet el-Maqatir, a site he believes may be biblical Ai.

Of the Talpiot Tomb, Richard Bauckham has a detailed examination of the four-line inscription, concluding that it does not have anything to do with Jesus or early Christianity but is nonetheless a very interesting ossuary inscription. Paleobabble observes that there is nothing in the “Jesus Discovery” related to Jesus or early Christianity. Those interested in reading about the first “Jesus tomb” in Talpiot can access a 2006 issue of Near Eastern Archaeology on the subject for free.

The Maps of the Zucker Holy Land Travel Manuscript have been digitized and put online by the University of Pennsylvania. The map was made in the late 1600s.

John Monson’s lecture on “Physical Theology: The Bible in its Land, Time, and Culture” at the Lanier Theological Library last month is now online.

Wayne Stiles visits the Mount of Beatitudes, Tel Dan, and Beth Shean. He provides an interesting quotation from George Adam Smith about Beth Shean, written in 1896: “There are few sites which promise richer spoil beneath their rubbish to the first happy explorer with permission to excavate.”

How right he was!

Joe Yudin describes a favorite hike in lower Galilee.

Turkey claims that Roman mosaics at a university in Kentucky were stolen in the 1960s and should be returned.

The Roman ruins in Palmyra are apparently being threatened by the Syrian army.

Greece is re-burying ruins because of a lack of funds.

HT: Jack Sasson, Joseph Lauer

Triumphal arch of Palmyra
(source, with 30 free photos of the site)

Tagged Greece, Resources, Syria, Tomb of Jesus, Tourism, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Great Deal: New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible

Christianbook.com is running a Fabulous Friday sale on The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible for only $130.

This five-volume work includes 7,100 articles and many illustrations. NIDB is not quite as comprehensive or detailed as Anchor Bible Dictionary but it is more up-to-date. Amazon sells it for $316.

Carl Rasmussen’s excellent Zondervan Atlas of the Bible is also marked down to $18 for the sale (which lasts through Monday).

Tagged Resources

Survey of Gerasa Region

One does not often read reports in the media of archaeological surveys, and this review of the Jarash Hinterland Survey is an interesting account of the final season in October 2010. The article notes that the population of Jerash (biblical Gerasa) has doubled in the last 15 years, making the survey of field and farm, tomb and quarry, an important project. They estimate that about “10% of the archaeological sites around the city are being lost to development year upon year.”

The team faced dangers such as scorpions, shabab-ed, and nappies. But they had great success as well, identifying 203 tombs, along with numerous other ancient features.

It is all too easy to get distracted from the survey by kind offers of tea, but as always local knowledge is gained as a result. For instance, to be informed that a tomb containing about twenty sarcophagi on Abu Suwan had been used as a bomb shelter in 1973 and had subsequently been filled in leaving no visible trace represented a great result. The route of a Classical water course in the Wadi Deir – now scattered and bulldozed – was shown to us by a man who played in it as a child. An intense artefact scatter also got us excited, only to be told to our disappointment that it had been deposited by trucks moving earth from elsewhere in the preceding few months.

The article includes a video and some great photos (click one to begin a slideshow).

HT: Jack Sasson

Tagged Jordan