The Jesus Discovery

by James D. Tabor

  22. Jonah vomited out of the sea monster, as depicted in the San Sebastiano catacombs.

  23. Jonah cast into the sea, depicted in a tomb in the catacombs of Priscilla.

  Jonah functioned in a similar way, being cast into the sea and swallowed by the fish or sea monster, which represented death. The belly of the fish was likened to the grave, or alternatively, the womb. Being spat out onto dry ground represented resurrection from the dead or rebirth. It is common for Jonah to emerge from the mouth of the fish with his hands raised, reflecting what is called the orant pose, indicating prayer and spiritual devotion, as shown in these murals.

  This iconographic use of Jonah to represent the resurrection of Jesus is echoed in early Christian writings of the 2nd and 3rd centuries as well.18 Justin Martyr, who wrote around 150 CE, argues with pagan opponents that Jesus fulfilled the one sign he gave—the “sign of Jonah,” since he rose from the dead after three days.19 The Acts of Paul, written in the late 3rd century CE, condemns those who doubt the resurrection of the body, citing the example of Jonah and applying it to Jesus and his resurrection.20

  24. Looking into the third niche with the two ossuaries—5 blocking the face of 6.

  THE SIGN OF JONAH ON THE TALPIOT TOMB OSSUARY

  To understand the significance of the Jonah image to the early Christians, we turn to the sign of Jonah found in the Patio Tomb. The ossuary with the image of Jonah and the fish is in the third niche, ossuary 6 on our map. It is turned perpendicularly in the niche and ossuary 5 is jammed up against it so closely we were unable to see its full decorated façade. Fortunately the Jonah image is on the left side of the ossuary’s decorated front panel if you are looking into the niche from outside, which allowed us to see it with our camera probe.

  The fish is clear, with fins and scales, an eye, and a huge etched-in tail with a human stick figure being expelled from its mouth. All the other decorated ossuaries in the tomb have formally executed façades with typical rosettes and border designs similar to hundreds of other examples from the period. Families could have ordered them from a shop that specialized in ossuary manufacture. Certain patterned styles and motifs were common and probably carried meanings now lost to us.

  25. First camera shot of the Jonah figure on the left panel of the ossuary.

  The Jonah ossuary is completely different. Its patterns and markings look much more crude and homemade, which indicates that the family took a plain ossuary and created a unique design to express something that was no doubt deeply meaningful. In other words, the Jonah ossuary carries a specific message. Nothing like it has ever been seen on any of the two thousand ossuaries that have been documented.

  The tail of the fish is oriented to the top of the ossuary and the mouth is turned to the bottom, as if the fish is spitting the figure onto land. There is a border to the side with what appears to be representations of mountains. The clear area the fish occupies within the borders of the panel represents water. The human stick figure’s head looks like it is wrapped in the style of a mummy. We suggest that the artist is trying to represent the seaweed that was wrapped around Jonah’s head when he emerged, based on the biblical text in which Jonah says “weeds were wrapped about my head” (Jonah 2:5). There are also fins and scales on this fish. Even though in popular imagination the story of Jonah and the “whale” is widespread, the text of the book of Jonah never identifies the creature as a whale—but as a “great fish.” In Jewish mythology the great fish that swallowed Jonah is associated with Leviathan, one of two great sea monsters that God created on the fifth day of creation. Leviathan, along with Behemoth, represents evil, chaos, and death. Leviathan lives in the Mediterranean Sea. He is prominent in rabbinic literature in connection with the coming of the Messiah. Leviathan is a kosher fish with fins and scales, not a mammal like a whale. The Torah forbids consumption of any kind of sea creature lacking fins and scales (Leviticus 11:9–12). According to these traditions, in the messianic age, at the time of the resurrection of the dead, Leviathan will be killed and eaten by the righteous in a great celebratory banquet. His skin will then be used to make shelters for the righteous.21 It is significant that we see evidence in our ossuary representation of the fish reflecting these details of the biblical story and Jewish tradition. When art historians interpret images, especially funerary art, they base their analysis on antecedents and precedents. A given image is then compared with other similar images, since various cultures develop and reuse certain stylistic motifs. It is common to find patterns and motifs used on furniture and frescos transferred to funerary art. That is why many of the images of Jonah and the fish in the catacombs of Rome are quite similar. A basic style of portraying the story had developed by the 3rd and 4th centuries CE among the Christians and it was then repeated hundreds of times.

  In the case of this newly discovered Jonah image there is nothing to compare it to. We know of not a single example of anything similar in the entire world of early Jewish art. The person who drew this image is turning an idea into an image. He or she had a concept in mind, but no example or model to imitate or adapt. The design is most likely based on the text of the book of Jonah, but more important, the oral tradition reflected in Q that Jesus had likened his resurrection from the dead to the story of Jonah and the fish. It makes no sense to think that someone would arbitrarily decide to put a Jonah fish image on his or her ossuary, violating the biblical prohibition of making images. It is all the more unlikely since we have no other such images on ossuaries in this period and Jonah and the fish is not even developed as a motif in Jewish texts of this period. The artist is clearly trying to express a concept. It is an affirmation of faith. But it is also a daring and heretical move. That it is in a tomb on an ossuary holding the bones of the deceased is all the more telling.

  26. Computer-generated image of Jonah and the fish produced from multiple photographs taken from various angles.

  As we examined the rest of the ossuary this interpretation was further reinforced. On the left end of the ossuary was another design, also done in a simple lined style. There was a bell-shaped object with a crosslike design in the middle. It looked as though it might represent an entrance into the ossuary—and thus an entrance into death. Whether the cross was there to represent an entrance, or whether it might have a more symbolic meaning, is open to interpretation.

  27. The “cross” image on the left end of the ossuary.

  On the opposite right end of the ossuary was another fish, very similar to the Jonah image, but only one-third of it was drawn. You can see the tail and part of the body of the fish with its scales, but then the rest is drawn so close to the bottom of the ossuary that the image could not be completed. We were not able to get a clear or wide shot of this end of the ossuary due to its tight fit against the wall of the niche. All we could see was some kind of grid pattern that looked like the scales. Later, in looking at the archive photos that Amos Kloner took of the ossuaries back in 1981, the image jumped out at us—it is definitely a partial fish, drawn in the same style as the one on the front.

  Next we examined the right side of the front panel of the ossuary. It had a design similar to the left side, with the mountain-like borders running along its edge and something that looked like rivers or canals with several smaller fish in them. Taken together, the images on the front and the two side panels seem to represent a kind of narrative. It is as if the ossuary itself presents death, and the various scenes on its panels portray stages of entering the grave and emerging alive again—just as Jonah does in the biblical story. Our biggest disappointment was that we could not see the middle of the front of the Jonah ossuary, where there might have been some kind of inscription. Ossuary 5, in front of the Jonah ossuary, was pushed so closely against its face, less than a half-inch, that we could not get a clear shot between the two. Walter had equipped the robotic arm so it could have easily and gently moved the ossuary in front just an inch or two, using an inflatable balloon, but we felt bound to honor our agreement with the u
ltra-Orthodox stipulating that nothing be moved even a fraction of an inch. The day we made our discovery one of Rabbi Schmidl’s representatives who had stuck close to us the whole time was present. Over the course of our investigation he had become a part of our team and seemed to share our excitement at each new discovery. We had formed a bond with the Orthodox and gained their respect based on keeping our word and demonstrating that our interest was to gather information about the deceased in the tomb as a way of honoring and remembering them.

  28. An enhanced close-up of the partial fish from the 1981 IAA archive photo.

  Later in assessing our Jonah ossuary findings we made yet another important discovery. In carefully studying the original photos that Kloner had taken of the ossuaries in 1981 we realized that the Jonah ossuary had originally been the first one, in the first niche, on the right as one enters the tomb. By carefully comparing these archive photos with our camera probe footage we have been able to recover the original positions of all the ossuaries in the tomb the day it was first entered. Rather than being tucked away deep in one of the other niches, as it is today, the Jonah ossuary occupied the place of honor reserved for the patriarch of the family—first on the right.

  What’s more, the photo clearly shows that this particular ossuary was filled to capacity with bones, indicating it held the remains of more than one individual. Jewish ossuary burials of this time often have the bones of several family members in a single ossuary.22 In contrast to the other elaborately carved and painted ossuaries, including the one Kloner had removed from the tomb in 1981, the Jonah ossuary seemed uncharacteristically simple, even crude, compared with the standard ornamentation found on ossuaries. We were convinced that it was an ossuary with a message and therefore its proclamation took precedence over its formal beauty. We could not help but wonder—could this be the humble ossuary of Joseph of Arimathea and his family? Was there something about his faith or piety as part of the Jesus movement that would lead him to prefer such a modest bone box?

  29. The Jonah ossuary, full of bones, in its original position in the 1981 photo.

  From what little we know of him in the gospels, Joseph of Arimathea seems to have been a person who was bold and daring enough to depict his faith in Jesus’ resurrection in such a unique and even heretical manner. He was willing to use his influence to go to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and get charge of Jesus’ proper burial at a time when sympathy with Jesus or his movement was not an easy thing to choose. Even the disciples of Jesus had gone into hiding after his death. The plainness of this ossuary reminds one of the ossuaries of Jesus, Maria, Matthew, and Joses in the Jesus tomb nearby. Might Joseph of Arimathea have chosen a similarly modest ossuary for himself and his most immediate family—but one that boldly proclaimed their faith even in the midst of opposition and conflict?

  THE GREEK INSCRIPTION

  The Greek inscription, right next to the Jonah ossuary, seemed to silently interpret the entire context of the tomb in a new light. Epigrams on ossuaries in this period are extremely rare. Of the 650 inscribed ossuaries on record there are only a dozen or so with any kind of message written on them. Typically these messages are emphatic protective formulae—unequivocal warnings against disturbing the bones of the deceased, such as:

  Bones of our father, do not open them!

  Our parents: Do not ever open!

  Our father Dositheos—not to be opened!

  Miriam, wife of Mathia: whoever moves these, blindness strike!23

  There is one possible exception, on an ossuary found on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. It is written in Aramaic and scholars have debated its proper translation. Some say it reads, “No man can go up [from the grave],” while others translate it “his entering [the grave] nobody has abolished.”24 In either case the idea is that it is impossible to reverse death. Although such expressions are abundant in Greek culture at this time, and even on later Jewish burials from the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, such an epigrammatic statement on a 1st century Jerusalem ossuary was unique until our discovery.25

  The four-line inscription, written in uncial (uppercase) Greek letters, reads as follows:

  ΔІΟΣ (Divine or Wondrous)

  ΙΑΙΟ (Jehovah)

  ΥΨΩ (Lift up)

  ΑΓΒ (Lift up)

  30. Negative image of the four-line Greek inscription with letters inked for clarity.

  When James returned home from Israel he began to consult with several expert epigraphers to get their evaluations of the text. All were duly impressed with the extraordinary nature of the find, realizing that an epigram of this sort was a “first” so far as Jerusalem ossuary inscriptions from this period. Based on their input James considered several alternative translations, including the possibility that this was a dedicatory inscription: “To God Jehovah [most] high holy,” but that would require the verb “to raise up” to be a contracted form of the adjective “most high.” This is problematic since the inscription seems to represent the word as a verb.26

  The final line of the inscription consisting of three Greek letters—A G B—is most intriguing. This is not a standard Greek word; it seems to be some kind of coded abbreviation. Perhaps it represents the initials of the name of the deceased. Such cryptic sets of letters occur on a half-dozen other ossuaries and so far no one has been able to figure out their meaning, though it is clear they are purposeful.27 It is possible that these three Greek letters represent the Hebrew verb hagbah, which means “lift up.” If that were the case we would have a repetition of the verb—lift up, lift up—once in Greek, the other in Hebrew written in Greek. This would parallel the first two lines, which refer to God in both Greek and Hebrew.

  The first word, DIOS, can be taken as an adjective, modifying the divine name of God—Yahweh or Jehovah—transliterated into Greek as IAO or here IAIO—thus the “divine” or “wondrous” Jehovah. We know this form in various literary sources, especially on magical papyri and amulets.28

  The core of the inscription is the contract verb hupsoo—“to lift, to raise up.” As is common in inscriptions it is written in an abbreviated form. It could be translated “he raised up” or even “he will raise up”—one can’t tell from this contracted form of the verb.29 In nonbiblical Greek this verb is rare and comes only in later sources.30 In contrast it occurs 260 times in the Greek Old Testament. It is used for exaltation in general, and understood as deliverance and redemption from danger and enemies. More specifically, in several passages it is used to express a developing view in resurrection of the dead: “Be gracious to me, O LORD! Behold what I suffer from those who hate me, O thou who lifts me up [hupson] from the gates of death” (Greek text of Psalm 9:14). In the Apocalypse of Abraham this verb is used for Abraham, who like Enoch and Elijah, is taken up to heaven by angels, so it comes to mean heavenly exaltation as well as being brought up from the grave (10:1). In the Dead Sea Scrolls it is used specifically for “raising up” from death as well as awakening or resurrection.31

  There are three passages in the New Testament that use this precise Greek verb—hupsoo—to refer to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus from the dead as well as his exaltation to heaven:

  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. (John 12:32)

  This Jesus God raised up . . . being therefore lifted up to the right hand of God. (Acts 2:32–33)

  The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God lifted him up at his right hand as Leader and Savior . . . (Acts 5:31)

  The verb comes to do double duty, referring both to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead as well as to his being lifted up to heaven. Paul uses a compound form of the verb that intensifies it: “Therefore God has lifted him to the highest . . .” (Philippians 2:9).

  We can’t say with certainty whether this four-line inscription refers to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead or the hope of the deceased in the ossuary who believed he or she would be “lifted up.”

  Given the context pro
vided by the image of the “sign of Jonah,” it seems more likely to us that it refers both to Jesus as a celebratory declaration of faith in his resurrection as well as to the resurrection of those in the tomb who have faith in him. This would clearly be the intention of putting Jonah and the fish images on one’s tomb in the catacombs at Rome. We must take into account that both the Jonah image and the inscription are on ossuaries—in a tomb—not on a wall, a pillar, an amulet, or other artifact. It is that funerary context that seems to most strongly point to Jesus. It could be a more general expression of faith in resurrection, but since we have no such general expressions on any of 650 inscribed ossuaries, it seems more likely that its connection is to faith in Jesus’ resurrection. It further seems that this family, buried not two hundred feet from the Jesus family tomb, is calling upon God to raise their messiah or proclaiming and celebrating that he has already been exalted to heaven.