More on the “Messiah Tablet”
A few days ago the NY Times published a report on the “Dead Sea Scroll on stone” or “Messiah Tablet” (posted on this at Old News about the Dead Sea Scrolls). The Times article claimed that the tablet contains a reference to a Messiah who will arise three days after death. Since the tablet pre-dates Jesus, this would mean that the concept of a resurrected Messiah was known in the ancient Near East prior to the New Testament description of Jesus’ resurrection.
A number of scholarly blogs have posted on the tablet in the last few days:
Todd Bolen discusses the disputed reading of the text.
Jim West posted on the question of its authenticity.
And Ed Cook says the text is too obscure for far-reaching conclusions.
These types of sensationalist issues always get a lot of press, so we can expect to hear a lot more about it.
UPDATE:: Jim West has added Joe Zias’ comments on the tablet to his blog. Zias demonstrates the problems with looted tombstones.
UPDATE: Israel Knohl ’s translation of the tablet and Hebrew article on the subject are available at the Shalom Hartman Institute website.
UPDATE: Israel Knohl’s article on the BAR website is called The Messiah Son of Joseph.
