The empty tomb. Alan Fowler

Transcription

1 The empty tomb Alan Fowler Why, it might be asked, should we be concerned with finding the authentic tomb in which the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was placed, from which he rose from the dead to die no more? There can be a danger of such tangible objects taking on more importance in our thinking than they deserve. But there may be merit in considering such evidence as there is, given that we live in a sceptical age that challenges the credibility of the Gospel records. This article explores the Biblical evidence which supports the claims of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem to be the Lord s resting place. ALTHOUGH absolute proof of the resurrection of Jesus is not possible, the authenticity of the resurrection account can be supported by showing that there is a tomb which corresponds to the description in the New Testament. If the Gospels can be shown to be describing a real tomb, which is still visible today, then there are grounds for a claim that the same Gospel records are likely to be accurate in their witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus itself. For centuries, countless Jews, Christians and Muslims have sought to be buried in and around the city of Jerusalem, so how can we hope to identify one tomb among the thousands which exist? We can begin our search firmly in the New Testament account, which tells us that the body of Jesus was placed in a tomb which was situated in a garden, which belonged to a wealthy Jew, and which was carved out of solid rock and closed by a rolling stone. 1 But one important factor is that the tomb was located in Golgotha, the place where 54 Jesus was crucified. 2 So, to explore the claims of any tomb purported to be that of Jesus, we need to find the authentic site of Golgotha. The Roman rhetorician Quintilian wrote, Whenever we crucify criminals, very crowded highways are chosen, so that many shall see it and may be moved by fear of it, because all punishment does not pertain so much to revenge as to example. 3 That the crucifixion of Jesus had such an effect is evident from Matthew 27:39: And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads... According to Jewish law, executions had to take place outside a city, each city having only one place of execution. Thus John 19:20 indicates that Jesus was crucified outside Jerusalem. More specifically, we are told that Jesus was crucified outside a city gate: Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate (Heb. 13:12). Combining all this evidence, there is a site outside Jerusalem where there is a rock face resembling a skull, 4 and it is situated immediately opposite a gate in the walls. Standing on the wall above the Damascus Gate and looking north, we see a unique skull-like appearance in a rock face. Indeed, the place is sometimes referred to as 1. Mt. 27:57-60; Mk. 15:46; Lk. 23:53; Jno. 19: Cp. Mk. 15:22 with Jno. 19: Quintilian, Declamationes, This is the possible import of Mt. 27:33. J.D.T. The Testimony, April 2011

2 Skull Hill. Adjacent to this there is a quarry with regular bedding planes, from which stone is believed to have been taken to build the walls of Jerusalem (Fig. 1). Contrastingly, the skull-like rock face is made up of broken rock fragments of no use to a stonemason, which has presumably contributed to its survival to this day. An early photograph indicates that this rock face has not significantly changed in around 150 years, although the ground level has risen considerably due to repeated phases of destruction and rebuilding. (This is evident from excavations which show that the Damascus Gate in today s walls, built in the sixteenth century by the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, is many feet above the original Roman gate built in the first century [Fig. 2].) Religious artists may be responsible for the widespread assumption that Jesus was crucified on top of a hill. However, this notion has no New Testament support, and tends to be contradicted Fig. 1. The skull-like feature in the rock face north of Jerusalem s Damascus Gate. The quarry face can just be seen on the right of the picture, above the flat roofs of the Arab bus station. Picture: Tony Benson by the Roman custom we have mentioned of requiring maximum exposure of crucified criminals alongside busy roads. This makes it more likely that Golgotha was on lower ground and adjacent to a busy intersection of roads outside the Damascus Gate (Fig. 3). Having ascertained a possible location for the crucifixion, we are now in a better position to search for the tomb of Jesus by using the New Testament evidence that the tomb was in the same location as the crucifixion: Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; Garden Tomb Skull rock face Bus station Ancient quarry Fig. 2. The left-hand entrance of the old Roman Damascus Gate, which would originally have had three entrances, the centre one much taller. The railings of the walkway into the current Damascus Gate can be seen on the right of the picture. As can be seen, the current ground level is a number of feet above the Roman level. Damascus Gate Old city wall Fig. 3. The location of the Garden Tomb The Testimony, April

3 Fig. 4. The skull photographed from the garden containing the Garden Tomb. and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid (Jno. 19:41). Is there a tomb near the spot we have identified as Golgotha, and where there is a garden? Interestingly, there is a garden immediately adjacent to Skull Hill, so close that the skull in the rock face can be seen from the extreme end of the garden (Fig. 4). The garden is L-shaped (Fig. 3), embracing two sides of Skull Hill, so it is difficult to imagine any tomb being closer to the spot we have put forward as the place of Jesus crucifixion. 5 As Matthew tells us, And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed (27:59, 60). Here are other features serving to support the authenticity of today s so-called Garden Tomb, carved out of solid rock, and with a trough for a rolling stone (Fig. 5). Close at hand are the remains of large olive and wine presses (Fig. 6), which may provide further evidence of the site having belonged to a wealthy individual. However, there is obviously no way of our being able to establish precisely when the tomb was first used or how many occupants it may have had. Such large tombs were at a premium in ancient times and were repeatedly reworked and reused, as evidenced by the fact that, when the tomb in question was excavated in 1867, the debris that filled it contained a number of human bones and skulls. John takes up the narrative: The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, 5. This may overlook the great changes ancient Jerusalem surely underwent as a result of its destruction by the Romans in the second century A.D. Archaeological evidence of a garden having been here in or around the first century would strengthen this particular point. J.D.T. Fig. 5. The Garden Tomb. Picture: David Niblack 56

4 Fig. 6. Ancient olive press found in the vicinity of the Garden Tomb. Picture: Tony Benson but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed (20:1-8). An examination of the structure of the Garden Tomb explains why John had to go inside the tomb in order to see clearly. The tomb contains two chambers, an antechamber or weeping chamber and a burial chamber proper. These were separated by a low wall such that, unless the visitor went into the actual burial chamber, he would not see all the wrappings, since the stone recess for the head of the deceased was situated adjacent to the wall (Figs. 7 and 8). The details we have examined constitute Biblical evidence in support of a claim that the tomb in Jerusalem known as the Garden Tomb is the authentic tomb of the Lord Jesus. The only other location regularly put forward as a rival claim, inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, cannot readily be identified in the same way with the descriptions contained in the Gospels, and its fame may have more to do with the fourth-century claims of Empress Helena (mother of Constantine the Great) to have found numerous Biblical sites, and relics such as the True Cross. But if our identification of Golgotha is correct, then this tomb is a powerful witness to the authenticity of the New Testament description of Golgotha and its adjacent tomb. If the Gospel writers can be shown to be accurate in describing the tomb of Jesus, then we have good reason to believe their accuracy in describing his glorious resurrection from that tomb too. Weeping chamber Low walls Entrance Burial place Low threshold Window Fig. 7. Plan of the tomb Fig. 8. Interior of the burial chamber of the Garden Tomb. The low wall can be seen to the bottom left of the photograph. The interior of the tomb was reworked in Byzantine times. The Testimony, April

5 Calvary And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left (Lk. 23:33). In modern versions the place where our Lord was crucified is called The Skull: When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left (NRSV). Calvary is not the name of the place where Jesus was crucified. Actually, it was Golgotha, which is the Greek form of the Hebrew word for a skull. Matthew 27:33 has both Golgotha and the Greek word kranion, which means skull. So why does the AV have Calvary in Luke? As usual, it is the Latin influence! The Latin words for a bare skull are calvi capitis. This was shortened to Calvarie in the early English translation from the Latin Vulgate by Wycliffe in Incidentally, Wycliffe has And th[ey] came to a place: that is clepid Golgatha that is the place of Calverie in Matthew 27:33 as well ( clepid is the Old English for called ). Peter Cox 58