Last week, I heard about the discovery of lead tablets in a remote cave near Jordan in a blog post by Larry Hurtado at Christian Origins pointing to Mail Online. A friend reminded me of the article when she pointed to an article posted at the BBC. This is in incredible find, if proved to be true. But since the jury is still out, I refrained from posting. However, the story is now picking up some steam.
The text is inscribed with coded versions of Hebrew and Greek. Scholars studying the authenticity of the lead codices are being careful and moving slowly. It is a possibility for the artifact to be a forgery. The codices are said to contain text on Jesus and the resurrection, an image of the tomb, and a map of Jerusalem. The date on the piece has been speculated from the mid first century to the third century AD.
Apprently, there could be more writings found in the cave. Dr. Claude Mariottini writes briefly about it on his blog. We don’t yet know what we have and to compare it to the Dead Sea Scrolls discovery as some have is overdoing a bit. I do understand the excitement. With that said, be careful what you read and share in these early stages. It tends to sort the easily persuaded from the assiduous. Larry Hurtado has some sage words of caution and past exerpience on his personal blog. If these writing are not part of the cannon, there could be an important reason. There is just so much we don’t know yet. Expect some speculation that will later turn out to be incorrect.
Some Jewish sources are also investigating the claims and not everyone is convinced of their authenticity. I think that hoopla surrounding the discovery in the new outlets may be an indication of their reliability. When it came to the Temple Scroll discovered from among the Dead Sea Scrolls, Yigael Yadin was throughough in his analysis and interpretation of the text before publishing more indepth articles. These are the habits of careful scholars who care more about the learning than the promotion.
