Isn't it amazing !!!... that nobody outside of the media and TH-cam knows anything about this so-called "amazing discovery " ? Coz it's fake, debunked bullshit...
There was a priestly family with a father by the name of Joseph, and sons James (Jacob) and Jesus (Joshua). All of these Hebrew names were extremely common in the 1st Century CE. The ossuary could very well be authentic of a Judean family. It just wouldn't be a family known in the NT.
Did you familiarize yourself with the statistical likelihood of the names combination in first century Jerusalem, and the virtually non-existent occurrence of the deceased's brother being listed on their ossuary?
One of things that make things so difficult is how common Jesus, Joseph, & James were as Jewish names at the time. There likely was more than one James the brother of Jesus and son of Joseph in his own extended family. However, whether it is authentic to the Jesus of Nazareth, doesn't mean that this couldn't have been a relic for Christianity in the past. Definitely an existing piece.
@@str33t3r I went with the common usage in English. If we want to be precise we should be using either the Aramaic names (ie Yeshua for Jesus) or the Hebrew (ie Yehoshua for Jesus) depending on the inscription and preference. Also Jesus isn't exactly a Greek name. It's an anglicization of the Latin translation (Iesus) of the Greek translation (Iesous). Jesus was likely called Yeshua during his life. Calling Jesus, Joshua isn't really helpful as it is just as inaccurate and likely to cause to confusion. The English J is from the language's Germanic roots and can be traced be to the Elder Futhark (at least 2nd century BC but a case for far older can be made). I am pretty sure Jesus starting being used in Middle English. So more like roughly 500-800 years old.
@@str33t3r now what if the remains from this have a DNA match to the others that say Yeshua, Son of Joseph, that was found buried with one that said "Maria" or "Mary" of the time?
@@str33t3r You’re not factoring in Mary Magdalene which there was only one and she was buried there too,so we can’t be talking about anyone other than Jesus of Nazareth.
I took my daughter to see the ossuary when it was on tour a bunch of years ago. She was around 5. Surveying the size of the thing, she said "he must've been really small." Edited to add: coincidentally, it was at the Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto.
Ossuaries were only meant to hold bones -- not a full body at time of death. By the ancient Jewish custom, the flesh of the dead were first allowed to decompose away in a tomb laid to rest fully covered in a shroud, and then the loved ones would collect the remaining bones and put them into these containers. That being said, the average height of people in the 1st Century was much shorter than today. I believe reading once that the average height of a Roman soldier was no more than 5'6" at the most. And ancient Israelites no more than 5'3".
@@jody6851 Yes, I explained that to her after, as I realized her Latin was not up to the task. She was, after all, 5, and it is a very small box. Still, I had a delightful moment of imagining the New Testament narrative being played out by oompaloompas.
@@ronbock8291 thank you my dude, I am now hearing the oompaloompa song in my head while visualizing various robed purple hair fellas climbing a mountain. 😆🤣
i think the jewish practice was to let the body rot, then put the bones in the ossuary and i could be wrong . but my faith tells me the devil is always deceiving. and the jesus that i believe in, was resurrected. that is the great hope for all mankind .
I have little idea what Tabor means by 'authentic'. It is an ossuary; it is inscribed; yes the last part of the inscription was apparently not added later to increase its value. Otherwise, since we don't have the foggiest idea whether there really was a 'James' or a 'Jesus' historically corresponding to the figures in the Bible, saying this is authentic really means squat.
We agree the ossuary is simply a "bone box", nothing more. Any inscription would not prove the existence of Jesus, nor would a forgery disprove it. The Bible is the proof of Jesus.But here it seems we disagree. You think "Jesus" and "James" were made up? Like Harry Potter or something? The Bible accurately records dealings with the kings of different nations (by name) at different times and records the historical events of those days. Harry Potter does not. The Bible is the most accurate historical source available for Jesus and James. If you can't tell fiction from non-fiction, Heaven help you. It is natural to want some kind of proof. Jesus' enemies asked for the same. They were given one: Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.
If memory serves James was buried in a fancy tomb in Jerusalem. When things went south and there was trouble, people would bury this awesome rabbi in the family tomb to protect him. They might also write the relationship as a salute to an important family and a martyred brother. I love your work, James
@@Fanofou82 yes, rabbi. remember all the first Christians were also faithful Jews and St. James was a religious man raised in Torah tradition and a teacher of religion so he was a Rabbi.
Was it common at that time for a person's brother to be specifically mentioned on an ossuary? I'm assuming it was indeed common for a father, and perhaps a son's name to be listed. But a brother? I'm not doubting. I simply don't know and it seems like a reasonable question. Another question - Prof. Tabor mentions several times the possibility that the "brother of Jesus" part could have been added later. What about the entire inscription? Is it plausible that the entire inscription was done at a later time? Is is plausible that the ossuary may have had no inscription or another inscription, at the time it was originally made, and then at some later time the existing inscription if there was one, was worn away and a new one cut into the stone? Depending on the time frames involved, would it be possible to identify differing dates between the initial carving of the ossuary and a later carving of the inscription? Nothing is known about the provenance. Is the wear and tear consistent with the time frame?
I'm an atheist, but Jesus was certainly a historical individual. We know there was a "Q source" gospel that consisted solely of Jesus' teachings. He might not have been named Jesus; he was not divine, and we know that much of the biography added to his teachings in the Gospels were lifted from other, more popular, myths of the time, but someone had to have traveled around providing the teachings eventually taken down in the original, lost "Q source" used to write some of the Gospels.
So we don't know where it came from, we don't know if the inscription is authentic, and we don't know which family the name refers to. Not much to get exited about from my perspective.
I don't think anyone is trying to prove that. Seems Jesus's ossuary was already found. Now his brothers, possibly his mother's. That would upset Christians however as it would prove he was moved.
@@Ericsaidful Jesus’s ossuary was indeed discovered along with his entire family……. The discovery occurred in 1980 in the Talpiot tomb…… Mary Magdalene and Judah son of Jesus was also among the buried. The IAA realized the profound affect this would have on religion and seized the boxes and destroyed all contents within and scoured the interior of the boxes and put them in a warehouse out of sight out of mind. Money trumps truth.
There is so much mystery about the family of Jesus. Many people believe that Joseph the carpenter was a widower when he married the virgin Mary, with four children, two boys and two girls James being one. But Jesus had a younger look alike full brother named Dydimus Thomas who founded the early church in India just a few years after the crucifixion.
There is zero Biblical or extra-Biblical evidence for this, and the only reason to presuppose Joseph had been married before and had children is because the Catholic Church TRADITION is that Mary remained a virgin her whole life. But that is not reasonable, necessary, nor Biblical. It is just a facet of idolatry around Mary that grew up centuries later.
Thank you Dr. Tabor. When will some DNA results be completed, do you think, from the Talpiot Tomb? Where can I find what has currently or already has been completed-if available? Peace
@@sagesarabia5053 James Tabor found it. Put in a search for "red hair, James Tabor, Talpiot tombs" James Tabor's sites as well as bibicalarcheology have articles. I believe it's in James Tabor's information on TH-cam for the Talpiot tomb also.
Why is Jesus having brothers even a question? Matthew 13:55,56 and Mark 6:3 name Jesus' 4 brothers and say he has sisters, plural, so at least 2 sisters.
A major warning sign of pseudoarchaeology includes discoveries pitched directly to the media. The pseudoarchaeologist knows his or her claim will not stand up to scrutiny by actual archaeologists or of have much likelihood of passing peer review of any reputable science journal, so it gets pitched directly to the media.
Some Christians say it's authentic, and some Christians say it's NOT authentic. So, it looks like Christians can take either position without contradicting their Christian beliefs. (This is particularly evident in the debate on the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin.) However, we don't find the same balance among atheists. In fact, it appears that the number of atheists who come down on the side of affirming the authenticity of debatable Biblical/Christian artifacts is virtually nil, thus indicating an incredible inability of atheists to be objective on such topics.
That the related trial concluded with the acquittal of the antiquities dealer and the other defendants on charges of forgery doesn't mean the inscription is authentic, only that a jury wasn't sure the defendants had direct knowledge of a crime.
Indeed, it could have been a forgery done in the 8th century, it could be absolutely what was carved on it when it was first made. And it could be that there were a lot of men called Joseph who named their kids James and Jesus (or whatever the Hebrew equivalent was) It is however a very interesting artifact. I think many of us want it to be the ossuary of James, the brother of Jesus, but we do need to set aside our emotional desires.
No, it means that they could not prove that the inscription was forged. And if the foremost experts could not prove that it was forged, then it either had to be forged by a heretofore unknown world class genius forger, OR it is an authentic inscription from approximately 30 B.C. to A.D. 100.
A fingerprint might yield a whole DNA profile but if others also touched the surface, or sneezed on it or....then there is mixed DNA. What's the chance these very old sources are contaminated by multiple contributors?
I have serious doubts about them being able to get anything genuinely useful from a two thousand year old sneeze or miniscule sample of skin cells that are potentially from some nameless, faceless stranger who may or may not have made the ossuary, carried the ossuary, visited the tomb with ossuary, simply sneezed at the ossuary as it passed by, etc. Anyone who wants to go in that absurd direction, GOOD LUCK. Just sounds like an utterly stupid waste of time to me.
Oded's King Yehoram's inscription to repair the First Temple with the Half Shekel tax recorded in the Book of Kings is a more significant archaeological find.
The logical position toward an extraordinary, supernatural claim is skepticism until proof is offered, and so far none of the dozens of gods that have been claimed to exist throughout history have lifted a finger to prove themselves. In fact, most believers grasp this for themselves; they automatically disbelieve all religious claims except their own, barring actual proof that never produces itself.
@@plainsman I agree with you! So much so that I cannot believe nothing exploded and everything came to be. Science has never demonstrated something coming from nothing, or life being born of non life. All we ever see is life coming from life, children coming from fathers. Your belief says the first human had no father, and logic says the first human cannot come from both a father and no father. So you should probably take your own advice on skepticism. Savvy?
God doesn't leave "relics." "For we walk by faith, not by sight." "My kingdom is not of this world." These silly forms of idolatry -- Shroud of Turin is but one example -- are distractions fabricated to line the pockets of their sponsors.
I don't know the truth about this, but I can say one thing with certainty. If a tomb was discovered with these inscribed ossuaries plus the James ossuary insitu, many people would consider it to be an enormous problem.
This doesn’t work at all in context. Consider when people from Jesus’ hometown were expressing disbelief that the Jesus they grew up with was now a teacher and performing miracles: Matthew 13:55-56 “Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” This is clearly describing Jesus’ close family and not his followers. Similarly Josephus clearly says James was the brother of Jesus but does NOT refer to any of the other disciples he talks about as Jesus’ brother. This argument doesn’t work.
Yay I had hoped that it was going to be tied to the The Talpiot Tomb, because of the style and because of the "missing one" mentioned in Jacobovici's film...and BAR Magazine's information from back in the day....... so YAY!.... YAY that my guess was right by chance but this is monumental..... congratulations Thank you, Dr. Tabor.
I thought there was a chance that this might be forged. That the patina was applied recently by the use of chemicals. And then baked or heated to give it age. However, when limestone is heated at a high degree of temperature is slowly turns into a more fragile chalk like substance. And possibly the reason why it was damaged during its transport to Canada. However, I can be sincere and still be sincerely wrong.
I was reading the bible, particularly the book of Genesis. It was talkin about how Abraham left with hi cousin Lot to a new land. Later in the passages Lot is referred as his Brother. I believe it was the culture and customs of that time to refer your cousin as Brother. So Jesus brothers could be his cousins trough joseph or Mary.
I have nothing but respect for James Tabor and when he retires and can be totally honest with the world about his belief as to whether the Talpiot tomb held the bones of Jesus of Nazareth, the real truth will be revealed that ALL the archaeologists agree that indeed Jesus was buried like anyone else of his time in the Talpiot tomb.
@@slzeman6079 I just follow the archaeological evidence wherever it leads. I don’t accept the biblical claim of Jesus resurrecting and the evidence rests on what people said or didn’t say and hysteria can taint the truth. The evidence points to the actual tomb of the biblical Jesus being discovered during an excavation for an apartment complex in 1980. The evidence in the bone boxes was removed and buried. All the names in the tomb matched the biblical names of the family of Jesus to include Mary Magdalene and a son Judah.
How many “Jameses”, “Josephs”, and “Jesuses” (whatever the ethnic versions) were there in antiquity? To me, this means very little relative to the Biblical stories.
It wasn't a particularly common name back then, and tracing somebody called Jesus who had a brother James, and parents Mary and Joseph was more rare and even less common. I recall a Canadian professor of statistics ( timeline documentary) who studied the chances of this being the family tomb of Jesus, and he arrived at the conclusion that there is only a very small chance that this ISN'T the family tomb. See his calculations on aforementioned timeline documentary. It's Fascinating stuff
This is SO ridiculous! Every Jewish mother would stand outside their doorway when the 1st century equivalent of streetlights came on, calling their kids in to dinner, and you know what 60 percent of those mothers were yelling? They were yelling “Jaaaaaakovvvv! Yehhhhshuaaaaaaa! Dinnnnnnnerrrrrrrrr!” My first name is Kathryn, but that doesn’t make me Katheryn Hepburn. This is just stupid.
I love Robert Eisenman’s work BUT he can be stubborn and pig headed at times and unwilling to budge when he THINKS he is right, and I disagree with Eisenman where James is buried. I think his body was moved to the cave and this is the authentic ossuary
isnt it the same ossuary that was found during the taipot tomb documentary which had the whole family in one tomb? the documentary said the tomb even had 2 mary's in the tomb insinuating that mother mary and mary magdeline were in the same tomb!
One discussion path I would like to see explored is this. If one were writing a pseudo docudrama, as has been hypothesized for the Gospels, wouldn't one go exploring the old city and write in backstory over existing names of people and places? I'm curious as to how much a historian would know about these tombs by being outside them. Would the names all be available? I'd love to see James Tabor write the definitive account of the Talpiot Tomb. I feel that Dr. Tabor is the closest to understanding the difficult piecing together of New Testament historicity.
Why would James-or anybody-add "brother of whoever" under normal circumstances? "Son of Whoever" yes, but brother? Of course Yaacov ben Yosef, the brother of Yeshua (the Messiah) would beg exception-but-if the bones of Yeshua are in the ossuary at the time of James' death, then that would mean James knew the bones were not risen. And then that would defeat the purpose of his ossuary making special reference to Him. The only reason the Gospels reference him as "the brother of Yeshua" is to differentiate him from James son of Zebedee. And then the question is why is the familial tomb in Jerusalem and not Nazareth? Seems really sketchy.
Mary the wife of Clopas, (or Cleopas, of Road to Emmaus fame), was the mother of James, Joses and Salome, the cousins of Jesus. The confusion comes in Mark 6:3, where Jesus is rejected at Nazareth and the text reads, “Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” The clarification comes in Mark 15:40-41; “There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome, who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem, in Mark 16:1, “When the sabbath was over,a Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him.” And in John 19:25, “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” That is why scripture must be interpreted in context and in light of the tradition of the only Church Jesus authorized to teach and preach in his name.
Is it a standard modern practice to loot tombs and sell the coffins and other grave goods? You'd think a grave in a city would be sort of sacrosanct? I'm thinking of that poor mummified cowboy in the store window in Seattle as I type this. Is there some sort of "past this date" where it's okay socially to sell human bones?
State mortuary laws vary but might be applicable in the case you mention. I know in another state that you can own human bones but only in the context of being a scientific specimen (like of a specific dental pathology) but you cannot sell it out of state.
It's interesting to ask that, but any projection of your reality onto this story only messes it up. Where did those, now political refugees, go after the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth? Did they travel off-shore to the same northern salmon fishing grounds other political refugees fled to, after the fall of the Garden of Eden? Their language is still spoken. They are all in the books and on the maps, and aren't taught in North America.
I don't know if you know this but Jesus didn't have a brother named James his name was Jacob changed to James as part of an attempt to de Jewish the new testament (this is not controversial and very well know) Also fyi Jude name wad Judah and judas was Judah from kirot
Wouldn't it be amazing to find the DNA of a man that had a mother but no father? Or the DNA of the real Jesus so we could identify the DNA of God? Of course, in this case, even if the inscription and origin is real, finding a contemporary James son of Joseph, brother of Jesus does not prove that it is the Jesus. And even if it did, it does not prove that anything of the Biblical Jesus story or divinity of Jesus is real.
It is kinda strange how he is called brother of Jesus while he had many other brothers. Later Christians could've simply taken an ossuary and inscribed it with whatever they wanted.
Well they did test blood from whats believed to be Jesus. It had every signature of dna from only female line and an unknown Y ... which is actually like 99% impossible..
@@J1WE No it's not. DNA degrades. Not even ancient family members can be positively identified, only that they are related. King Tut for example was buried with 2 fetuses, but they don't know if he was the father, brother or uncle because they can extract only a few usable markers. The same counts for bishop Peter Winstrup (who was so much embalmed he became a mummy), and he was from the 17th century.
5 mins in... and we're still hearing about the character of the person who sold it and the person who bought it. This says absolutely nothing about the authenticity of the object, and if this much time is spent going no where.... I'm out.
Except this inscription is NOT in New Testament Greek. It is written in Hebrew. So not sure about your point unless it is saying the New Testament account itself is not saying James was Jesus’ half brother. But that argument doesn’t really work, IMO where the context makes it clear it is immediate family members and Josephus also records James as being Jesus’ brother in Chapter 9 of Book XX.
Yes, ossuary, Hebrew; my point is that New Testament Greek brother, that designation, is not definitive as blood brother. Can just as easily be cousin. Thus it’s not accurate to say Jesus had a blood brother, as many do say that, based on n.testament. It wasn’t proved either way, for a forgery/add-on. Okay…I can’t therefore say james was the half-brother. Can’t say yes or no on that.
@@a.m.phaneuf6164 Yes it is absolutely accurate to say that Jesus had a brother, if you consider context. It’s not at all enough to simply point out one possible alternate meaning of adelphoi and conclude it can NEVER mean blood relative. Or even that it more often than not means cousins vice immediate siblings. Just like Aloha means both hello and goodbye in Hawaiian that doesn’t mean one can’t know for certain when someone is recorded as having said “aloha” to greet a person who just arrived that this meant “hello” and not goodbye. Context is critical, and the context of passages like Matthew 13:55-56 make it clear that Jesus had half-brothers and sisters, sharing Mary as a mother with them. “Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” The whole context makes it crystal clear these people from Nazareth are saying they knew Jesus AND his immediate family. It doesn’t make any sense in context to say these are cousins or even brothers and sisters in the faith. Similarly, Josephus records the death of James and specifically says Jesus’ brother, while he does NOT use “brother” to describe the death of any other Christian. This is clearly to say which specific James he was talking about by naming a family member. ESPECIALLY given that there were TWO James in the New Testament, one being one of the twelve disciples. THAT James was not Jesus’ brother and so Josephus makes this distinction clear. In any case, it is not nearly enough to cite potential alternative uses of adelphoi as “proof” Jesus never had siblings. There is no clear or compelling reason to use that alternative definition of the word from the text itself.
Read my exact words. I said blood brother nor cousin, is the absolute definition of the Greek word for brother. That’s fact. It’s YOU who say absolutely it IS blood brother. Okay, context, you cited Matt 13… see that, in light of Matt 27:56, where both scriptures refer to the same Mary, the Mary who is wife of Cleophas, John 19:25. THAT Mary, is sister, to Mary, Our Blessed Lord’s mother. So mr. tabor in the video, is correct in referring to the “clan,” the relatives of Our Lord.
@@a.m.phaneuf6164 No, you are misrepresenting what I said. I said IN CONTEXT it is clear that the intended meaning is blood brother, period, EVEN IF the word MIGHT mean cousin in another context. Note: Your counter-example is completely irrelevant as it doesn’t use the word adelphoi in Matt 27:56 at all. But more damning to your argument is that the mother of the sons of Zebedee is named there and James the Apostle is the son of Zebedee, who is listed SEPARATELY from the only two named Mary: Mary Magdelene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph. James and Joseph were two of Jesus’ half brothers and so this is Mary Jesus’ mother. The mother of the sons of Zebedee (the Apostles James and John) was not named Mary. So we have a non-Mary who was the mother of James the Apostle, and a Mary who is the mother of James and Joseph (two of Jesus’ half brothers) and Mary Magdelene listed in this passage in Matthew. And consider this verse and ask yourself if the word adelphoi here ought to be translated as brothers or cousins? Matthew 10:2-4 “The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” The Apostles are all “brothers” in a figurative sense, as Peter addresses them as “brothers.” However, if they are all “brothers” then why spell out Simon and HIS brother Andrew, James AND his brother John, etc.? Clearly the plain reading of the text means these men were actually brothers in the literal sense. Finally, consider 1 John 3:12 “We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.” We know from the Old Testament Hebrew that Able was Cain’s literal brother (and from the fact that their genealogy is listed showing both shared Adam and Eve as parents). And here Adelphoi is used when it says Cain murdered “his brother.” Overall, I think the weight of evidence from the text itself is overwhelming that Adelphoi really means brother in the blodd brother sense in these passages, and so there is no rationally defensible reason to presume it doesn’t mean that only when applied to James Jesus’ half-brother. Give me one good reason-other than a merely POSSIBLE alternate meaning-to believe that Jesus had no half brothers or sisters. ANY historical document will suffice. But if your whole argument depends on a POSSIBLE ambiguity then you really have no valid or compelling argument at all.
I went to Catholic school (Sisters of Notre Dame) and Catholic High School (Jesuits) and never, not once, did I ever hear that Jesus had a brother. How did I miss that? Or is it being suppressed?
Cousins were called brothers , just as it is in some part of Africa these days. They would not insult their cousin by saying they're just a cousin right ? They are all brothers and sisters. Mary is a Virgin and has always been !
@@denisbureau216 So... We're talking about the cousin of Jesus? Whose tomb says he's the son of Joseph? This muddies things more. What's your understanding of the family line using colloquial American English terminology.
@@georgegonzalez-rivas3787In two thousand years anybody who was called James and who's father was Joseph could have had this tombstone . I prefer to believe the apostle storyline of the Holy Catholic church.
@@denisbureau216 In other words you have no information on this specific at all? Are you saying that the official apostle storyline is that Jesus had no brothers, or step-brothers, and that this could not have been the 'brother of jesus' and certainly not another son of Mary?
@@georgegonzalez-rivas3787 We have another historical source called the infancy gospel of james which claims mary was perpetually virgin. If Jesus was the son of God like the gospels claim then James cannot be a literal brother anyway, but a half brother at best. The latest mention of Joseph in the gospels is in Luke when Jesus is teaching in the temple at 12 years old. Its very possible that he was much older than Mary and died within the next 18 years. Remember also how in Luke chapter 1 Mary asked Gabriel how she would conceive if she hasn't known man, even though she was already betrothed to Joseph? It's very likely that she stayed a virgin, infact this is believed by most Christians today including The catholic church, orthodox, and lutherans. It is then very likely that Jesus's brethren mentioned are either cousins, since it was normal at that time for large families to live together, or Joseph is a widow and his children are from a previous marriiage.
I think what people need to remember is that wether this artefact is genuine or not, it means nothing as Jesus was one of the most common names going at that period in time, there would have been many men called Jesus.
The point is that in a family tomb a reference to another person on a personal receptacle was unusual and indicates fame of the person alluded to. Not many famous Yeshua's then, but one is well known.
Using all caps is not considered respectful toward your readers. In my many years of experience within an important university it is considered perfectly normal and acceptable simply to say "Professor So-and-so". "Doctor Professor" is redundant. One cannot become a professor without first having a Doctorate. So "Professor" automatically implies "Doctor".
I got a New World Translation of The Holy Scriptures 1970 revised edition Which is The Jehovah Witness Bible at that time and in the back last pages it states that James was Jesus Brother written in Jerusalem and that Jude was also Jesus Brother written in Palestine with a question mark. The title was Books of The Greek Scriptures During the Common Christian Era. I do not believe Jesus had a brother as He is the Son Of God
Laying aside questions of forgers; James, Joseph, and Joshua ( the real English language equivalent of Jesus) are very, very common names in first century Israel.
The extra mention of another person's name on the ossuary likely alludes to a well known or noteworthy status of the mentioned personage. When Elvis's cousins or assistants pass, their stones, obits, or vaults may briefly mention "assistant to Elvis." Nobody would bother alluding to Elvis on the stone if he weren't well known.
So what. If it found that this Jesus person of the bible actually existed does not prove anything about his life, the miracles, the resurrection, or anything else.
..fascinating to listen too,...truth is truth and the nature of all real truth is that it will eventually set you free, but probably make you miserable first xD...and the love of truth will eventually lead you to the sum of all truth, which of course is summed up in Rabbi Yahshua the brother of Ya'acov, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one, absolutely no one, including us Jews, get to the Father except thru Him...Hebrews 13:8 Yahshua Messiah the same yesterday, today and forever... Ya'acov Blesses His Sons Gen 49:1 And Ya'acov called unto his sons, and said, "GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER", that I may tell you that which shall befall you in THE LAST DAYS. Gen 49:2 "GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER", and SCHMA* , you sons of Jacob; and SCHMA* unto ISRAEL your father. *Mar 12:29 And Yahshua answered him, The FIRST of all the commandments is, SCHMA, O ISRAEL (not church); YHWH Elohainu YHWH Echad
Who really cares if the secular history of an ancient person is accurate or not. There are bound to be people who lived at one time or another. The real question for Jesus believers is where is the physical evidence of supernatural or paranormal events from that era? Or today? (and I don't count writings by men)
You're incorrect that the collector "doesn't fit the bill". Many art forgers do it out of motivation to fool the experts or to prove how smart they are and are not motivated financially: _"We might assume that money is the primary motivation for art forgery, but we see again and again that this is rarely true - although profit might be a welcome bonus. Forgers are complex psychological characters, driven by many different impulses to a life of crime. We will examine the complexity of these motivations by addressing the primary impetuses of select master forgers, one in each chapter."_ (Noah Charney _The Art of Fogery_ p.14). Also the Talpiot Tomb is in East Talpiot - south of Jerusalem. Nazareth is in the opposite direction. Is he Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus of East Talpiot?!
@@paultorbert6929 and what I said relates to that. What I said about Jesus of Nazareth was an afterthought - the main point is that James Tabor's remark that the collector "doesn't fit the bill" for a forger is incorrect because as pointed out by Noah Charney ... most forgers are not primarily motivated by money. Many different things motivate them, some just want to outsmart the experts. For artists who've failed to make a name for themselves in art it can be about proving that they're capable of imitating a famous artist to the point that art connoisseurs can't tell the difference. There was one guy who forged biblical related manuscripts (his name escapes me) who was motivated out of re-writing the history of the Roman Catholic Church and he succeeded for a long time.
So many of these people speak so slowly. Better at 1.5X speed. He dithers a lot qualifying his statements to be cautious. Why not just say what you mean as there will always be naysayers who will argue with you. You can’t cover every specious, asinine criticism.
As every morning, your website is not joinable in center Europe. Don't know f this is satellites, servers, weather conditions, or censoring on my device. But about the genetic data, we must care a lot. Keep eyes well open!
James, Jesus, Jacob, Joseph, John basically all the same name and all VERY common names, like John Smith would be to us. Ossuarys were usually family owned and reused for each generation. 😘 After a certain amount of time, the bones would be removed to the family tomb and it would be ready for the next bones.
Statistical analysis of ancient names suggests that in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, there would be 1.71 people named James with a father named Joseph and a brother named Jesus. So if the inscription isn’t a forgery, it’s highly likely that it refers to members of the same family documented in the Christian bible.
How do you know they are close to finding the DNA of Jesus wouldn't they to get the actual DNA of Jesus I don't think they use the DNA of the so called DNA Jesus that they have
@@willempasterkamp862 : Why would we need to clone a saviour. The one God promised and sent is practically ignored by humans. Psalms 118:22 The stone that the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.
The actual name is Yeshua, Jesus is a transliteration into Greek and thence to English. Yeshua, Joseph and James (Jacob) where all common Hebrew names in Isreal at the time of the Jesus story so even if the inscription is authentic there is no evidence that the jesus, Joseph and James mentioned are the biblical ones.
It seems like the evidence overwhelmingly points to the fact that this is indeed the ossuary of James the Jesus, but people within the academic world are too uncomfortable with going public with it now due to it's controversial history so it's been put to the wayside. Very unfortunate. James is being erased for the second time in history now.
Thank you Dr Tabor. This is so exciting to hear about. Every time!
Well, have you heard anything about it? I've circled an ad here in the paper you may be interested in.
Isn't it amazing !!!... that nobody outside of the media and TH-cam knows anything about this so-called "amazing discovery " ?
Coz it's fake, debunked bullshit...
There was a priestly family with a father by the name of Joseph, and sons James (Jacob) and Jesus (Joshua). All of these Hebrew names were extremely common in the 1st Century CE. The ossuary could very well be authentic of a Judean family. It just wouldn't be a family known in the NT.
Did you familiarize yourself with the statistical likelihood of the names combination in first century Jerusalem, and the virtually non-existent occurrence of the deceased's brother being listed on their ossuary?
@@juice75 Well, we know of one don't we!
Interesting. Can you provide a source for that?
@@Bildad1976i think like 4 statistician did the numbers and all said it's 1 in 600,000 chance it's not the Jesus family tomb.
One of things that make things so difficult is how common Jesus, Joseph, & James were as Jewish names at the time. There likely was more than one James the brother of Jesus and son of Joseph in his own extended family. However, whether it is authentic to the Jesus of Nazareth, doesn't mean that this couldn't have been a relic for Christianity in the past. Definitely an existing piece.
There never was a question of the container, only of the inscription.
Especially after popularity took hold. Look at the name of the person being interviewed.
@@str33t3r I went with the common usage in English. If we want to be precise we should be using either the Aramaic names (ie Yeshua for Jesus) or the Hebrew (ie Yehoshua for Jesus) depending on the inscription and preference. Also Jesus isn't exactly a Greek name. It's an anglicization of the Latin translation (Iesus) of the Greek translation (Iesous). Jesus was likely called Yeshua during his life. Calling Jesus, Joshua isn't really helpful as it is just as inaccurate and likely to cause to confusion. The English J is from the language's Germanic roots and can be traced be to the Elder Futhark (at least 2nd century BC but a case for far older can be made). I am pretty sure Jesus starting being used in Middle English. So more like roughly 500-800 years old.
@@str33t3r now what if the remains from this have a DNA match to the others that say Yeshua, Son of Joseph, that was found buried with one that said "Maria" or "Mary" of the time?
@@str33t3r You’re not factoring in Mary Magdalene which there was only one and she was buried there too,so we can’t be talking about anyone other than Jesus of Nazareth.
This is fascinating. But it does not affect my faith. Neither to strengthen nor to weaken it.
I took my daughter to see the ossuary when it was on tour a bunch of years ago. She was around 5. Surveying the size of the thing, she said "he must've been really small." Edited to add: coincidentally, it was at the Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto.
Ossuaries were only meant to hold bones -- not a full body at time of death. By the ancient Jewish custom, the flesh of the dead were first allowed to decompose away in a tomb laid to rest fully covered in a shroud, and then the loved ones would collect the remaining bones and put them into these containers. That being said, the average height of people in the 1st Century was much shorter than today. I believe reading once that the average height of a Roman soldier was no more than 5'6" at the most. And ancient Israelites no more than 5'3".
@@jody6851 Yes, I explained that to her after, as I realized her Latin was not up to the task. She was, after all, 5, and it is a very small box. Still, I had a delightful moment of imagining the New Testament narrative being played out by oompaloompas.
@@ronbock8291 thank you my dude, I am now hearing the oompaloompa song in my head while visualizing various robed purple hair fellas climbing a mountain. 😆🤣
That's cute, out of the mouth of babes
i think the jewish practice was to let the body rot, then put the bones in the ossuary and i could be wrong . but my faith tells me the devil is always deceiving. and the jesus that i believe in, was resurrected. that is the great hope for all mankind .
That's great news! I have followed this Ossuary for years starting with Dr Tabor and Simcha years ago.
I am the son of Jesus ❤
You must be tired...are you with it now?
I have little idea what Tabor means by 'authentic'. It is an ossuary; it is inscribed; yes the last part of the inscription was apparently not added later to increase its value. Otherwise, since we don't have the foggiest idea whether there really was a 'James' or a 'Jesus' historically corresponding to the figures in the Bible, saying this is authentic really means squat.
We agree the ossuary is simply a "bone box", nothing more. Any inscription would not prove the existence of Jesus, nor would a forgery disprove it. The Bible is the proof of Jesus.But here it seems we disagree. You think "Jesus" and "James" were made up? Like Harry Potter or something?
The Bible accurately records dealings with the kings of different nations (by name) at different times and records the historical events of those days. Harry Potter does not. The Bible is the most accurate historical source available for Jesus and James. If you can't tell fiction from non-fiction, Heaven help you. It is natural to want some kind of proof. Jesus' enemies asked for the same. They were given one:
Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.
I think it means that it wasn’t forged
If memory serves James was buried in a fancy tomb in Jerusalem. When things went south and there was trouble, people would bury this awesome rabbi in the family tomb to protect him. They might also write the relationship as a salute to an important family and a martyred brother. I love your work, James
rabbi?
@@Fanofou82 yes, rabbi. remember all the first Christians were also faithful Jews and St. James was a religious man raised in Torah tradition and a teacher of religion so he was a Rabbi.
@@RedRiverMan Liar. Snake.
Matthew 23:8
But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
@@RedRiverMan James, brother of Jesus is not in the body of Christ. An important distinction when showing honor to those who deserve it.
Was it common at that time for a person's brother to be specifically mentioned on an ossuary? I'm assuming it was indeed common for a father, and perhaps a son's name to be listed. But a brother? I'm not doubting. I simply don't know and it seems like a reasonable question.
Another question - Prof. Tabor mentions several times the possibility that the "brother of Jesus" part could have been added later. What about the entire inscription? Is it plausible that the entire inscription was done at a later time? Is is plausible that the ossuary may have had no inscription or another inscription, at the time it was originally made, and then at some later time the existing inscription if there was one, was worn away and a new one cut into the stone? Depending on the time frames involved, would it be possible to identify differing dates between the initial carving of the ossuary and a later carving of the inscription? Nothing is known about the provenance. Is the wear and tear consistent with the time frame?
The urn teetering on the edge of that bookshelf is making me anxious.
I'm an atheist, but Jesus was certainly a historical individual. We know there was a "Q source" gospel that consisted solely of Jesus' teachings. He might not have been named Jesus; he was not divine, and we know that much of the biography added to his teachings in the Gospels were lifted from other, more popular, myths of the time, but someone had to have traveled around providing the teachings eventually taken down in the original, lost "Q source" used to write some of the Gospels.
I herd about James Aushuari, from simcha jacocob. It's very very interesting when you said, "I believe that it's Authentic". Great day Dr.
Aushuari?
@@mehere337 yah
So we don't know where it came from, we don't know if the inscription is authentic, and we don't know which family the name refers to. Not much to get exited about from my perspective.
Even if this was James' ossuary it still of course proves nothing in terms of Jesus' divinity
ya but it would be totally sick.
@@ChopinIsMyBestFriend Perhaps!
I don't think anyone is trying to prove that. Seems Jesus's ossuary was already found. Now his brothers, possibly his mother's. That would upset Christians however as it would prove he was moved.
@@Ericsaidful the Jesus ossuary found by Simcha Jacobovci has been debunked
@@Ericsaidful Jesus’s ossuary was indeed discovered along with his entire family……. The discovery occurred in 1980 in the Talpiot tomb…… Mary Magdalene and Judah son of Jesus was also among the buried.
The IAA realized the profound affect this would have on religion and seized the boxes and destroyed all contents within and scoured the interior of the boxes and put them in a warehouse out of sight out of mind.
Money trumps truth.
There is so much mystery about the family of Jesus. Many people believe that Joseph the carpenter was a widower when he married the virgin Mary, with four children, two boys and two girls James being one. But Jesus had a younger look alike full brother named Dydimus Thomas who founded the early church in India just a few years after the crucifixion.
There is zero Biblical or extra-Biblical evidence for this, and the only reason to presuppose Joseph had been married before and had children is because the Catholic Church TRADITION is that Mary remained a virgin her whole life. But that is not reasonable, necessary, nor Biblical. It is just a facet of idolatry around Mary that grew up centuries later.
...and some people 'believe' that chickens have lips...
St. Thomas who went to India was a His disciple, not His brother.
@@YSLRD He was both.
Always following the developments on this fascinating Ossuary.
So interesting. Am 3/4 through The Jesus Dynasty. Can’t stop reading.
Thank you Dr. Tabor. When will some DNA results be completed, do you think, from the Talpiot Tomb? Where can I find what has currently or already has been completed-if available? Peace
Wait they founds bones??
@@sagesarabia5053 They found a full scalp of red hair, and they have lifted DNA from inside the ossuaries.
@@shainazion4073 wow! When???
@@sagesarabia5053 James Tabor found it. Put in a search for "red hair, James Tabor, Talpiot tombs" James Tabor's sites as well as bibicalarcheology have articles. I believe it's in James Tabor's information on TH-cam for the Talpiot tomb also.
@@shainazion4073 Just to be clear, the reddish hair is from the Tomb of the Shroud rather than the Talpiot garden tomb.
Thanks for the update Dr. tabor
Is there any reason why The whole family would have been buried in Jerusalem and not Caperneum?
What happened to the Tomb in Talpiot? What happened to the ossuary that reads "Yeshua Bar Joseph"? Is that being investigated?
Thanks for updating us on this.
Thank you
Why is Jesus having brothers even a question? Matthew 13:55,56 and Mark 6:3 name Jesus' 4 brothers and say he has sisters, plural, so at least 2 sisters.
A major warning sign of pseudoarchaeology includes discoveries pitched directly to the media. The pseudoarchaeologist knows his or her claim will not stand up to scrutiny by actual archaeologists or of have much likelihood of passing peer review of any reputable science journal, so it gets pitched directly to the media.
Yes. But two sided coin there.
If you dont have the media, you dont have the funding for further eesearch nowadays.
Uh… Did you even watch the video?
Some Christians say it's authentic, and some Christians say it's NOT authentic. So, it looks like Christians can take either position without contradicting their Christian beliefs. (This is particularly evident in the debate on the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin.)
However, we don't find the same balance among atheists. In fact, it appears that the number of atheists who come down on the side of affirming the authenticity of debatable Biblical/Christian artifacts is virtually nil, thus indicating an incredible inability of atheists to be objective on such topics.
I had no idea this was still a thing.
That the related trial concluded with the acquittal of the antiquities dealer and the other defendants on charges of forgery doesn't mean the inscription is authentic, only that a jury wasn't sure the defendants had direct knowledge of a crime.
Indeed, it could have been a forgery done in the 8th century, it could be absolutely what was carved on it when it was first made. And it could be that there were a lot of men called Joseph who named their kids James and Jesus (or whatever the Hebrew equivalent was) It is however a very interesting artifact. I think many of us want it to be the ossuary of James, the brother of Jesus, but we do need to set aside our emotional desires.
No, it means that they could not prove that the inscription was forged. And if the foremost experts could not prove that it was forged, then it either had to be forged by a heretofore unknown world class genius forger, OR it is an authentic inscription from approximately 30 B.C. to A.D. 100.
Wasn't James or Yaakov martyred in the year 44 CE? There was also Yaakov or James the less.
What does the patina show? I heard it shows it goes back to the time of Jesus.
A fingerprint might yield a whole DNA profile but if others also touched the surface, or sneezed on it or....then there is mixed DNA. What's the chance these very old sources are contaminated by multiple contributors?
I have serious doubts about them being able to get anything genuinely useful from a two thousand year old sneeze or miniscule sample of skin cells that are potentially from some nameless, faceless stranger who may or may not have made the ossuary, carried the ossuary, visited the tomb with ossuary, simply sneezed at the ossuary as it passed by, etc. Anyone who wants to go in that absurd direction, GOOD LUCK.
Just sounds like an utterly stupid waste of time to me.
What is the point? I can picture some who want to deny modern Israel a heritage older than the partition. Is that what the controversy is?
Oded's King Yehoram's inscription to repair the First Temple with the Half Shekel tax recorded in the Book of Kings is a more significant archaeological find.
Very interesting. Thank You
You dont need an ancient toomb to tell you that Jesus had brothers from Mary obviously..the Scriptures teaches you that
Soooo interesting!! Thank you 🙏🙏
I just want Yashua to come back!
The logical position toward an extraordinary, supernatural claim is skepticism until proof is offered, and so far none of the dozens of gods that have been claimed to exist throughout history have lifted a finger to prove themselves. In fact, most believers grasp this for themselves; they automatically disbelieve all religious claims except their own, barring actual proof that never produces itself.
@@plainsman seem I WILL have to meet in the afterlife
@@plainsman very Familiar with Anatoly Fomenko.
And Flavius.
@@plainsman I agree with you! So much so that I cannot believe nothing exploded and everything came to be. Science has never demonstrated something coming from nothing, or life being born of non life. All we ever see is life coming from life, children coming from fathers. Your belief says the first human had no father, and logic says the first human cannot come from both a father and no father. So you should probably take your own advice on skepticism. Savvy?
You are watching the wrong video. This guy does not accept Christ's divinity or any beliefs of Christianity.
God doesn't leave "relics." "For we walk by faith, not by sight." "My kingdom is not of this world." These silly forms of idolatry -- Shroud of Turin is but one example -- are distractions fabricated to line the pockets of their sponsors.
Being the brother of Jesus would really suck. You'd never quite measure up.
Imagine being the son which I am
I don't know the truth about this, but I can say one thing with certainty. If a tomb was discovered with these inscribed ossuaries plus the James ossuary insitu, many people would consider it to be an enormous problem.
They were all brothers, like the monks in a seminary. Just like didymus Thomas, didymus meant brother, all disciples were addressed as brother.
This doesn’t work at all in context. Consider when people from Jesus’ hometown were expressing disbelief that the Jesus they grew up with was now a teacher and performing miracles: Matthew 13:55-56
“Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” This is clearly describing Jesus’ close family and not his followers. Similarly Josephus clearly says James was the brother of Jesus but does NOT refer to any of the other disciples he talks about as Jesus’ brother. This argument doesn’t work.
Fascinating..love these historical researchers
James Tabor is not a historical researcher but a gnostic fiction purveyor.
Yay I had hoped that it was going to be tied to the The Talpiot Tomb, because of the style and because of the "missing one" mentioned in Jacobovici's film...and BAR Magazine's information from back in the day....... so YAY!.... YAY that my guess was right by chance but this is monumental..... congratulations
Thank you, Dr. Tabor.
I thought there was a chance that this might be forged.
That the patina was applied recently by the use of chemicals. And then baked or heated to give it age. However, when limestone is heated at a high degree of temperature is slowly turns into a more fragile chalk like substance. And possibly the reason why it was damaged during its transport to Canada.
However, I can be sincere and still be sincerely wrong.
I was reading the bible, particularly the book of Genesis. It was talkin about how Abraham left with hi cousin Lot to a new land. Later in the passages Lot is referred as his Brother. I believe it was the culture and customs of that time to refer your cousin as Brother. So Jesus brothers could be his cousins trough joseph or Mary.
Someone please secure that metal ornament so it can’t fall off the unit behind him… it’s triggering my OCD. Thanks
I wonder why no Romans wrote about Jesus until over 100 years after his death?
I have nothing but respect for James Tabor and when he retires and can be totally honest with the world about his belief as to whether the Talpiot tomb held the bones of Jesus of Nazareth, the real truth will be revealed that ALL the archaeologists agree that indeed Jesus was buried like anyone else of his time in the Talpiot tomb.
I suppose that clears it up for us all then--thanks for making it so easy!
@@slzeman6079 I just follow the archaeological evidence wherever it leads.
I don’t accept the biblical claim of Jesus resurrecting and the evidence rests on what people said or didn’t say and hysteria can taint the truth.
The evidence points to the actual tomb of the biblical Jesus being discovered during an excavation for an apartment complex in 1980.
The evidence in the bone boxes was removed and buried.
All the names in the tomb matched the biblical names of the family of Jesus to include Mary Magdalene and a son Judah.
How many “Jameses”, “Josephs”, and “Jesuses” (whatever the ethnic versions) were there in antiquity?
To me, this means very little relative to the Biblical stories.
Wasn't Jesus a fairly common name in 1st century?
It wasn't a particularly common name back then, and tracing somebody called Jesus who had a brother James, and parents Mary and Joseph was more rare and even less common. I recall a Canadian professor of statistics ( timeline documentary) who studied the chances of this being the family tomb of Jesus, and he arrived at the conclusion that there is only a very small chance that this ISN'T the family tomb. See his calculations on aforementioned timeline documentary. It's Fascinating stuff
This is SO ridiculous! Every Jewish mother would stand outside their doorway when the 1st century equivalent of streetlights came on, calling their kids in to dinner, and you know what 60 percent of those mothers were yelling? They were yelling “Jaaaaaakovvvv! Yehhhhshuaaaaaaa! Dinnnnnnnerrrrrrrrr!” My first name is Kathryn, but that doesn’t make me Katheryn Hepburn. This is just stupid.
I love Robert Eisenman’s work BUT he can be stubborn and pig headed at times and unwilling to budge when he THINKS he is right, and I disagree with Eisenman where James is buried. I think his body was moved to the cave and this is the authentic ossuary
Isn’t it the case that James, Joseph and Jesus (or the Hebrew equivalents) were extremely common names?
Whenever money is paid for antiquities, there is the danger of fakery very skillfully done.
isnt it the same ossuary that was found during the taipot tomb documentary which had the whole family in one tomb? the documentary said the tomb even had 2 mary's in the tomb insinuating that mother mary and mary magdeline were in the same tomb!
One discussion path I would like to see explored is this. If one were writing a pseudo docudrama, as has been hypothesized for the Gospels, wouldn't one go exploring the old city and write in backstory over existing names of people and places? I'm curious as to how much a historian would know about these tombs by being outside them. Would the names all be available? I'd love to see James Tabor write the definitive account of the Talpiot Tomb. I feel that Dr. Tabor is the closest to understanding the difficult piecing together of New Testament historicity.
Here's an idea....what if Jesus was a very popular name 2,000 years ago?
I hope they are able to do genetic testing soon on the DNA traces. That would be so awesome.
Why would James-or anybody-add "brother of whoever" under normal circumstances? "Son of Whoever" yes, but brother? Of course Yaacov ben Yosef, the brother of Yeshua (the Messiah) would beg exception-but-if the bones of Yeshua are in the ossuary at the time of James' death, then that would mean James knew the bones were not risen. And then that would defeat the purpose of his ossuary making special reference to Him. The only reason the Gospels reference him as "the brother of Yeshua" is to differentiate him from James son of Zebedee. And then the question is why is the familial tomb in Jerusalem and not Nazareth? Seems really sketchy.
Mary the wife of Clopas, (or Cleopas, of Road to Emmaus fame), was the mother of James, Joses and Salome, the cousins of Jesus. The confusion comes in Mark 6:3, where Jesus is rejected at Nazareth and the text reads, “Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” The clarification comes in Mark 15:40-41; “There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome, who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem, in Mark 16:1, “When the sabbath was over,a Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him.” And in John 19:25, “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” That is why scripture must be interpreted in context and in light of the tradition of the only Church Jesus authorized to teach and preach in his name.
Thanks for clearing that all up for us. It's really is very much like math.
Yeah, and Clopas was a carpinter too
If Jesus had a brother there could be descendants that are relatives of Jesus.
Dude, 23&Me--you can solve this!
Did anyone look at the dna
Is it a standard modern practice to loot tombs and sell the coffins and other grave goods? You'd think a grave in a city would be sort of sacrosanct? I'm thinking of that poor mummified cowboy in the store window in Seattle as I type this. Is there some sort of "past this date" where it's okay socially to sell human bones?
Yes
State mortuary laws vary but might be applicable in the case you mention. I know in another state that you can own human bones but only in the context of being a scientific specimen (like of a specific dental pathology) but you cannot sell it out of state.
It's interesting to ask that, but any projection of your reality onto this story only messes it up. Where did those,
now political refugees, go after the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth? Did they travel off-shore to the same
northern salmon fishing grounds other political refugees fled to, after the fall of the Garden of Eden?
Their language is still spoken. They are all in the books and on the maps, and aren't taught in North America.
Is the name "Jesus" unique? How many Jesus' were there in the pertinent time? Would any random Jesus have James and Josephs in their family?
I don't know if you know this but Jesus didn't have a brother named James his name was Jacob changed to James as part of an attempt to de Jewish the new testament (this is not controversial and very well know)
Also fyi Jude name wad Judah and judas was Judah from kirot
Wouldn't it be amazing to find the DNA of a man that had a mother but no father? Or the DNA of the real Jesus so we could identify the DNA of God? Of course, in this case, even if the inscription and origin is real, finding a contemporary James son of Joseph, brother of Jesus does not prove that it is the Jesus. And even if it did, it does not prove that anything of the Biblical Jesus story or divinity of Jesus is real.
It is kinda strange how he is called brother of Jesus while he had many other brothers. Later Christians could've simply taken an ossuary and inscribed it with whatever they wanted.
Well they did test blood from whats believed to be Jesus. It had every signature of dna from only female line and an unknown Y ... which is actually like 99% impossible..
@@J1WE No it's not. DNA degrades. Not even ancient family members can be positively identified, only that they are related. King Tut for example was buried with 2 fetuses, but they don't know if he was the father, brother or uncle because they can extract only a few usable markers. The same counts for bishop Peter Winstrup (who was so much embalmed he became a mummy), and he was from the 17th century.
@UC9MJnV7ePWAOGxQhBauY8-g That is nonsense. Where did you read that?
@@mver191 just look up " Jesus Dna 24 chromosomes" also Gods name found in our DNA YHWH
Truly could be James's tomb.
Jesus had already been Crucified and Resurrected.
Other family members could have marked the tomb.
5 mins in... and we're still hearing about the character of the person who sold it and the person who bought it.
This says absolutely nothing about the authenticity of the object, and if this much time is spent going no where.... I'm out.
New Testament Greek: “brother,” is not necessarily blood brother. Can be blood brother or can mean cousin.
Except this inscription is NOT in New Testament Greek. It is written in Hebrew. So not sure about your point unless it is saying the New Testament account itself is not saying James was Jesus’ half brother. But that argument doesn’t really work, IMO where the context makes it clear it is immediate family members and Josephus also records James as being Jesus’ brother in Chapter 9 of Book XX.
Yes, ossuary, Hebrew; my point is that New Testament Greek brother, that designation, is not definitive as blood brother. Can just as easily be cousin. Thus it’s not accurate to say Jesus had a blood brother, as many do say that, based on n.testament. It wasn’t proved either way, for a forgery/add-on. Okay…I can’t therefore say james was the half-brother. Can’t say yes or no on that.
@@a.m.phaneuf6164 Yes it is absolutely accurate to say that Jesus had a brother, if you consider context. It’s not at all enough to simply point out one possible alternate meaning of adelphoi and conclude it can NEVER mean blood relative. Or even that it more often than not means cousins vice immediate siblings. Just like Aloha means both hello and goodbye in Hawaiian that doesn’t mean one can’t know for certain when someone is recorded as having said “aloha” to greet a person who just arrived that this meant “hello” and not goodbye. Context is critical, and the context of passages like Matthew 13:55-56 make it clear that Jesus had half-brothers and sisters, sharing Mary as a mother with them.
“Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” The whole context makes it crystal clear these people from Nazareth are saying they knew Jesus AND his immediate family. It doesn’t make any sense in context to say these are cousins or even brothers and sisters in the faith. Similarly, Josephus records the death of James and specifically says Jesus’ brother, while he does NOT use “brother” to describe the death of any other Christian. This is clearly to say which specific James he was talking about by naming a family member. ESPECIALLY given that there were TWO James in the New Testament, one being one of the twelve disciples. THAT James was not Jesus’ brother and so Josephus makes this distinction clear. In any case, it is not nearly enough to cite potential alternative uses of adelphoi as “proof” Jesus never had siblings. There is no clear or compelling reason to use that alternative definition of the word from the text itself.
Read my exact words. I said blood brother nor cousin, is the absolute definition of the Greek word for brother. That’s fact. It’s YOU who say absolutely it IS blood brother. Okay, context, you cited Matt 13… see that, in light of Matt 27:56, where both scriptures refer to the same Mary, the Mary who is wife of Cleophas, John 19:25. THAT Mary, is sister, to Mary, Our Blessed Lord’s mother. So mr. tabor in the video, is correct in referring to the “clan,” the relatives of Our Lord.
@@a.m.phaneuf6164 No, you are misrepresenting what I said. I said IN CONTEXT it is clear that the intended meaning is blood brother, period, EVEN IF the word MIGHT mean cousin in another context. Note: Your counter-example is completely irrelevant as it doesn’t use the word adelphoi in Matt 27:56 at all. But more damning to your argument is that the mother of the sons of Zebedee is named there and James the Apostle is the son of Zebedee, who is listed SEPARATELY from the only two named Mary: Mary Magdelene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph. James and Joseph were two of Jesus’ half brothers and so this is Mary Jesus’ mother. The mother of the sons of Zebedee (the Apostles James and John) was not named Mary. So we have a non-Mary who was the mother of James the Apostle, and a Mary who is the mother of James and Joseph (two of Jesus’ half brothers) and Mary Magdelene listed in this passage in Matthew.
And consider this verse and ask yourself if the word adelphoi here ought to be translated as brothers or cousins? Matthew 10:2-4
“The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” The Apostles are all “brothers” in a figurative sense, as Peter addresses them as “brothers.” However, if they are all “brothers” then why spell out Simon and HIS brother Andrew, James AND his brother John, etc.? Clearly the plain reading of the text means these men were actually brothers in the literal sense. Finally, consider 1 John 3:12
“We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.” We know from the Old Testament Hebrew that Able was Cain’s literal brother (and from the fact that their genealogy is listed showing both shared Adam and Eve as parents). And here Adelphoi is used when it says Cain murdered “his brother.”
Overall, I think the weight of evidence from the text itself is overwhelming that Adelphoi really means brother in the blodd brother sense in these passages, and so there is no rationally defensible reason to presume it doesn’t mean that only when applied to James Jesus’ half-brother.
Give me one good reason-other than a merely POSSIBLE alternate meaning-to believe that Jesus had no half brothers or sisters. ANY historical document will suffice. But if your whole argument depends on a POSSIBLE ambiguity then you really have no valid or compelling argument at all.
Why and how would a family from Nazareth have a tomb in Jerusalem?
I went to Catholic school (Sisters of Notre Dame) and Catholic High School (Jesuits) and never, not once, did I ever hear that Jesus had a brother. How did I miss that? Or is it being suppressed?
Cousins were called brothers , just as it is in some part of Africa these days. They would not insult their cousin by saying they're just a cousin right ? They are all brothers and sisters. Mary is a Virgin and has always been !
@@denisbureau216 So... We're talking about the cousin of Jesus? Whose tomb says he's the son of Joseph? This muddies things more.
What's your understanding of the family line using colloquial American English terminology.
@@georgegonzalez-rivas3787In two thousand years anybody who was called James and who's father was Joseph could have had this tombstone . I prefer to believe the apostle storyline of the Holy Catholic church.
@@denisbureau216 In other words you have no information on this specific at all? Are you saying that the official apostle storyline is that Jesus had no brothers, or step-brothers, and that this could not have been the 'brother of jesus' and certainly not another son of Mary?
@@georgegonzalez-rivas3787 We have another historical source called the infancy gospel of james which claims mary was perpetually virgin. If Jesus was the son of God like the gospels claim then James cannot be a literal brother anyway, but a half brother at best. The latest mention of Joseph in the gospels is in Luke when Jesus is teaching in the temple at 12 years old. Its very possible that he was much older than Mary and died within the next 18 years. Remember also how in Luke chapter 1 Mary asked Gabriel how she would conceive if she hasn't known man, even though she was already betrothed to Joseph? It's very likely that she stayed a virgin, infact this is believed by most Christians today including The catholic church, orthodox, and lutherans. It is then very likely that Jesus's brethren mentioned are either cousins, since it was normal at that time for large families to live together, or Joseph is a widow and his children are from a previous marriiage.
Tabor is very articulate and believable.
I think what people need to remember is that wether this artefact is genuine or not, it means nothing as Jesus was one of the most common names going at that period in time, there would have been many men called Jesus.
The point is that in a family tomb a reference to another person on a personal receptacle was unusual and indicates fame of the person alluded to. Not many famous Yeshua's then, but one is well known.
Is that James the Just from the Thomas Gospel?
Where was he born?
IT'S DOCTOR PROFESSOR PEOPLE!! DOCTOR PROFESSOR James Daniel Tabor!! BE RESPECTABLE!!
Using all caps is not considered respectful toward your readers.
In my many years of experience within an important university it is considered perfectly normal and acceptable simply to say "Professor So-and-so". "Doctor Professor" is redundant. One cannot become a professor without first having a Doctorate. So "Professor" automatically implies "Doctor".
I got a New World Translation of The Holy Scriptures 1970 revised edition Which is The Jehovah Witness Bible at that time and in the back last pages it states that James was Jesus Brother written in Jerusalem and that Jude was also Jesus Brother written in Palestine with a question mark. The title was Books of The Greek Scriptures During the Common Christian Era.
I do not believe Jesus had a brother as He is the Son Of God
The son of Jesus' brother in law, Ed.
2000 years didn't need the didache or dead sea scrolls or Egypt in the grand canyon.
Laying aside questions of forgers; James, Joseph, and Joshua ( the real English language equivalent of Jesus) are very, very common names in first century Israel.
The extra mention of another person's name on the ossuary likely alludes to a well known or noteworthy status of the mentioned personage. When Elvis's cousins or assistants pass, their stones, obits, or vaults may briefly mention "assistant to Elvis." Nobody would bother alluding to Elvis on the stone if he weren't well known.
@@slzeman6079hi
So what. If it found that this Jesus person of the bible actually existed does not prove anything about his life, the miracles, the resurrection, or anything else.
..fascinating to listen too,...truth is truth and the nature of all real truth is that it will eventually set you free, but probably make you miserable first xD...and the love of truth will eventually lead you to the sum of all truth, which of course is summed up in Rabbi Yahshua the brother of Ya'acov, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one, absolutely no one, including us Jews, get to the Father except thru Him...Hebrews 13:8 Yahshua Messiah the same yesterday, today and forever...
Ya'acov Blesses His Sons
Gen 49:1 And Ya'acov called unto his sons, and said, "GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER", that I may tell you that which shall befall you in THE LAST DAYS.
Gen 49:2 "GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER", and SCHMA* , you sons of Jacob; and SCHMA* unto ISRAEL your father.
*Mar 12:29 And Yahshua answered him, The FIRST of all the commandments is, SCHMA, O ISRAEL (not church); YHWH Elohainu YHWH Echad
Amen!
Who really cares if the secular history of an ancient person is accurate or not. There are bound to be people who lived at one time or another. The real question for Jesus believers is where is the physical evidence of supernatural or paranormal events from that era? Or today? (and I don't count writings by men)
You're incorrect that the collector "doesn't fit the bill". Many art forgers do it out of motivation to fool the experts or to prove how smart they are and are not motivated financially: _"We might assume that money is the primary motivation for art forgery, but we see again and again that this is rarely true - although profit might be a welcome bonus. Forgers are complex psychological characters, driven by many different impulses to a life of crime. We will examine the complexity of these motivations by addressing the primary impetuses of select master forgers, one in each chapter."_ (Noah Charney _The Art of Fogery_ p.14). Also the Talpiot Tomb is in East Talpiot - south of Jerusalem. Nazareth is in the opposite direction. Is he Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus of East Talpiot?!
This is about JAMES(ossuary)…. And the inscriptions on it…..
Not JESUS.
@@paultorbert6929 and what I said relates to that. What I said about Jesus of Nazareth was an afterthought - the main point is that James Tabor's remark that the collector "doesn't fit the bill" for a forger is incorrect because as pointed out by Noah Charney ... most forgers are not primarily motivated by money. Many different things motivate them, some just want to outsmart the experts. For artists who've failed to make a name for themselves in art it can be about proving that they're capable of imitating a famous artist to the point that art connoisseurs can't tell the difference. There was one guy who forged biblical related manuscripts (his name escapes me) who was motivated out of re-writing the history of the Roman Catholic Church and he succeeded for a long time.
It's the best blessed bone box in the business.
So many of these people speak so slowly. Better at 1.5X speed. He dithers a lot qualifying his statements to be cautious. Why not just say what you mean as there will always be naysayers who will argue with you. You can’t cover every specious, asinine criticism.
As every morning, your website is not joinable in center Europe. Don't know f this is satellites, servers, weather conditions, or censoring on my device. But about the genetic data, we must care a lot. Keep eyes well open!
I believe they found a son of Jesus there to, so that proves its not him.
DNA results? What's the verdict on the Tribes of ancient Israel and the most prominent blood type?
Talpiot tomb is a Hasmonean tomb...
If it came from the Talpiot Tomb and it carries the right label, what's the discussion? 1st Head of the real Church. Prosopography will confirm.
James, Jesus, Jacob, Joseph, John basically all the same name and all VERY common names, like John Smith would be to us.
Ossuarys were usually family owned and reused for each generation. 😘 After a certain amount of time, the bones would be removed to the family tomb and it would be ready for the next bones.
Statistical analysis of ancient names suggests that in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, there would be 1.71 people named James with a father named Joseph and a brother named Jesus.
So if the inscription isn’t a forgery, it’s highly likely that it refers to members of the same family documented in the Christian bible.
Jacob and James are the same name. James isn't a name in Hebrew.
@@erichwentz2866not the same name but the same bible character. The english use James for some reason
I am the son of Jesus and im very serious ❤
jesus did not have a brother james was the son of salome and zebedee, not joseph and mary
You need to study more. There were two James. Jesus indeed had a brother named James.
@@natashatomlinson4548 j
James the son of Alpheus is the other James, not the son of joseph
How do you know they are close to finding the DNA of Jesus wouldn't they to get the actual DNA of Jesus I don't think they use the DNA of the so called DNA Jesus that they have
"We have successfully cloned a sheep." Dolly.
Old bones. Let them turn to dust as God decreed (Genesis 3:19).
but what if we can clone a savior to us, imagine the possibilitiies.
@@willempasterkamp862 : Why would we need to clone a saviour. The one God promised and sent is practically ignored by humans.
Psalms 118:22 The stone that the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.
@@tongakhan230 the builders are evil doers fallen into their pity despair, we can do better
Not 'brother' in the modern sense... James was a cousin. The Greek word adelphos means relative...
Jesus had 4 brothers and 3 sisters, his cousins were James and John sons of Zebedee and John the Baptist.
@ermete that is Roman Catholic dogma you are quoting. The truth is very clear in the Bible.
@@erichwentz2866 um - true, except the Bible says Jesus had "sisters" plural. I.e. two or more, but a specific number is not noted.
@@ronashman8463 according to the catholics it was 3 I don't remember their names tho.
There were pillow fights.
The actual name is Yeshua, Jesus is a transliteration into Greek and thence to English. Yeshua, Joseph and James (Jacob) where all common Hebrew names in Isreal at the time of the Jesus story so even if the inscription is authentic there is no evidence that the jesus, Joseph and James mentioned are the biblical ones.
It seems like the evidence overwhelmingly points to the fact that this is indeed the ossuary of James the Jesus, but people within the academic world are too uncomfortable with going public with it now due to it's controversial history so it's been put to the wayside. Very unfortunate. James is being erased for the second time in history now.
You should hear what dissenting scholars have to say, there are many, and they have good arguments.