Shuafat and Arad Judahite literate places

Though in the Chalcolithic period humans were still using stone tools, they also began to create high-level ceramics and for the first time, copper tools as well, plus from findings found at the old Arad showed that there might have been a high literacy rate in Judah at the end of the First Temple period

The Chalcolithic period is by some considered a bridge between antiquity and modern human communal existence.

While scholars agree that key biblical texts were written starting in the 7th century BCE, the exact date of the compilation of these books remains in question.

A profusion of literate individuals in Judah may have set the stage for the compilation of biblical works that constitute the basis of Judahite history and theology, such as the early version of the books of Deuteronomy to Second Kings, according to the researchers of the Tel Aviv University who published some new resutls from excavations in the old city of Arad.

As far back as 7,000 years ago there were settlements in Jerusalem.
A dig in the annexed east Jerusalem neighbourhood Shuafat revealed two homes with parts of walls and floors intact, as well as “pottery vessels, flint tools, and a basalt bowl” characteristic of the Chalcolithic era, the Israel Antiquities Authority said at the beginning of this year.

A section of Israel’s separation barrier in east Jerusalem divides the Palestinian Shuafat refugee camp (right) from the Jewish settlement Pisgat Zeev.
© Provided by AFP

Putting the results together we may assume that literacy by certain groups existed at all levels of the administrative, military and priestly systems of Judah and that reading and writing were not limited to a tiny elite.

This handout photo released by the Israel Antiquities Authority on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2016, shows work on uncovering of an ancient settlement in Jerusalem. Israeli archeologists have discovered a 7,000-year-old settlement in northern Jerusalem in what they say is the oldest discovery of its kind in the area. (Israel Antiquities Authority via AP

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Old Arad and Widespread literacy in Judah in 600 BCE

Arad

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Talpiot Tomb a family grave of the tribe of Jesus

  A 1st century CE stone ossuary (bone box) found in a burial tomb in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Talpiot. In 2007, James Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, made the startling claim that the tomb shows Jesus wasn't resurrected and was in fact buried with his family in this tomb (Getty Images)

Further research on Talpiot Tomb which was discovered in East Jerusalem in 1980 may indicate that it is with “virtually unequivocal evidence” the family grave for Jesus of Nazareth, his wife Mary Magdalene, and his son, Judah.

In 2007 already a documentary made a case that the 2,000-year-old "Tomb of the Ten Ossuaries" belonged to the family of Jesus of Nazareth. The inscriptions and the approximate dates of burial have led some to suggest the Talpiot Tomb means Jesus married, that he fathered a child, and that the existence of bodily remains means the Resurrection could never have happened.

About that last tomb of Jesus they seem to overlook the inscription in Aramic which  reads “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”, which for me would more indicate that it could perhaps be the grave of Jesus his brother but not that one of Jeshua himself. It is not because an inscription ‘Yeshua bar Yehosef’ (‘Jesus, son of Joseph’) can be found written in the tomb that it has to be the tomb in which Jesus was buried. It also just could be a reference to the people buried in it their connection with Jeshua, the son of man from Nazareth who was considered to be the Messiah.

The scientist makes a reference to a gravestone for the people when it could be found in Liverpool. But he does seem to forget that when there is such a mention on it of the four Beatles it does not have to be that all four  would really be buried together in that one grave at that one place where they were born.

It would be wrong to hail the found bones and ossuary boxes as the most significant of all Christian relics. It at the same time could be wrong to say it is a forgery, misinterpretation and reckless speculation. But to say it is really the place where Christ Jesus would have been placed after he died is doubtful, also because it does not comply with the writings from scripture and previous civic writings about the tomb and about the place which was guarded by the Roman soldiers.

In any case the two ancient artifacts found there in East Jerusalem have set off a fierce archaeological and theological debate in recent decades.

How can they have "unequivocal evidence" of the grave being that one of Jesus? Do they have DNA of Jesus? Many at the time could see and hear the witnesses of those who had seen the risen lord and were even prepared to die for what they had witnessed. Their statements made that others after them did not need (further) physical proof.

Many people against Christianity are pleased with those findings of those scientist but forget that we do have the writings from earlier days which are convincing enough and the writings which are God-given for our Christian community to continue to go strong.

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